Sustainable Jewellery: Has Its Time Come?

Google searches for sustainable jewelry, as well as sustainable jewelry brands and ethical jewelry brands, give more than fourteen million results, despite their seeming specificity. Here are some numbers that highlight how the omnipresent topic of the fashion industry, sustainability, is reaching an area traditionally viewed as hermetic, if not immobile since noble materials make the margins of action smaller than those in those industries that can afford experimentation.

Nevertheless, this is an a priori proposition that is rapidly changing: the sample is not only in, for instance, the new collection of 3D printed jewelry by Mango, the collection of plant-based materials produced on demand by Becomely, or the commitment to recycling of Malababa in Tetra, its latest product launching in pendants and earrings. Boris Barboni, Bvlgari’s General Director for Spain, Portugal, and Andorra, remarks that in regards to fine jewelry, Bvlgari has never lost this sense of sustainability: the brand’s manufacturing of its products (100% Made in Italy, with top quality raw materials that last forever) has always been present in its philosophy. In many jewelry entities, the sustainability of production processes is of great importance; technology plays an important role in this.

The shift in the production chain towards objectives that companies have set themselves as inevitable and global (BVLGARI is a part of the Kimberly process, designed to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the international market from the source). Since 2003; Chopard, in October 2017, decided not to purchase Burmese gemstones due to the Rohingya crisis) has different expressions that emphasize that, although sustainability is fashionable, some have been practicing and promulgating it for some time. This is the case of Luz Rodríguez, creator of the firm Luz de Neha, one of the few sustainable jewelry brands in Spain and one of the only licensees for the Fairmined responsible mining alliance, according to its founder. Sustainable jewelry is in the process of social education since it is a very unknown and new concept for the consumer, but its expansion and reception is being very good, he explains. We are increasingly aware of the contamination of heavy metals in our bodies, and thanks to all the information available in the organic food sector, jewelers can spread the need to also eliminate the use of mercury in this industry to avoid contamination. contamination through the earth, comments illustrating the integrality of the conversation, and the need to maintain open communication flows.

"Jewelry is never destroyed. Gold or platinum is melted down and used again. Never thrown away."

Today, my work in Latin America is tightly regulated, and follows the same security standards as in Europe, something that was not the case before, Rodriguez said. The miners receive decent wages and work hours, and there is no discrimination or exploitation of children. In recent years, more sophisticated machines have been used to facilitate the removal of materials without the use of mercury or cyanide, and improvement and support projects have been launched in mining communities, he says, without sounding pessimistic. Sustainable steps are continuing to be taken thanks to the support of new designers, jewelers, and Fairmined firms [a seal of approval that certifies gold from responsible small-scale and artisanal mining organizations]. Four years ago, when I started, we had only half that number of licensees.

We work with what we call the gems of nature, says Barboni. Protecting nature and, at the same time, guaranteeing ethical working conditions is fundamental for Bvlgari. We prefer to work with gold that is extracted following criteria of sustainability and quality working conditions. We have been the first jewelry house to use it; Since 2015 exactly, he comments on the use of what is known as sustainable gold, a certification granted by the Responsible Jewelry Council, an organization that helps jewelry companies on the path of sustainability throughout the production and distribution chain. The list of members continues to grow, and you can also find such emblematic firms as Chaumet, Chopard, and Tiffany & Co; all of them with actions aligned with the improvement of working and environmental conditions. For example, Chopard has also joined since July 2018 the use of responsible gold, that is, the extracted from small mines approved by Fairmined and the Responsible Jewelry Council. Even so, the accessibility of these materials remains a matter of debate.

If you want to work with jewelry ethically, you can easily find materials aligned with sustainability, says Luz Rodríguez. Some companies are dedicated to the recycling of silver, to the extraction and recycling of gold from electronic devices. On the other hand, Amanda Nyberg, designer of Holy Recycle, believes that new sustainable materials are difficult to access for most and are difficult to find in the market. In addition, they are not usually seen as well by people who are looking for noble materials such as gold or silver. It is clear that there are noble materials in jewelry, but they are scarce and therefore have high prices; In addition, they have come to generate, in repeated cases, the exploitation of people for their extraction and armed conflicts for their control. We must stop exploiting the land in this direction, and take advantage of the raw materials that are already extracted, assimilate and also accept the presence of new materials that can help the sustainability of the planet. Along these lines, Barboni points out that materials such as silk, leather, steel, porcelain, or titanium, with which Bvlgari has experiments since the sixties and seventies, can become sustainable and reusable. Also, let’s not forget that jewelry is never destroyed. The gold or platinum is melted down and used again. They are never discarded.

That’s a point on which Nyberg agrees; in fact, it is the foundation of your signature. Holy Recycle is based on the recovery of old jewels already created in the past to give them a second life, he says. Jewelry allows us to reuse. It allows us to melt and create from scratch, it allows us to recover old jewels, and all of this also includes a new element in the game: the search for those materials from the past in corners of our cities or on the Internet. Reusing the metal that was already extracted in its day, perhaps conventionally, is another form of sustainability, confirms Rodríguez.

We do not belong to the world of the disposable

Another area of a coincidence for those who are dedicated to both jewelry and costume jewelry is the sustainability that existed in the past, that is, in the manual processes of the jewelers of yesteryear. An idea already latent in the industry, if one takes into account that the recovery of craftsmanship is occupying the speeches of voices such as Anna Wintour and the aesthetics of the collections of various designers, in addition to, for example, the February issue of 2020 of Vogue. My work is essentially based on the techniques and procedures of the old jewelers, says Nyberg. Holy Recycle feeds fundamentally on raw material from the work that these jewelers once did. We also need new raw materials in the process, but all our work is completely manual and artisanal. In my workshop, the craft of jewelry is worked following the ancient traditions, from the foundry to the lost wax, going through the revision with files and sandpaper in an artisanal way, until arriving at the manual polishing, explains Rodríguez. We adapt the traditional process to new technologies using tools that make work easier, but they [the former jewelers] have always worked in a sustainable way, recycling and reusing materials and tools, avoiding the production of waste, through fair trade and fair wages. worthy, finish. If we talk in terms of quality, many things have remained the same since the beginning, says Barboni. The hands of craftsmen interpret designs and artistic institutions. What has changed are some processes to bring these creations to life, such as the creation of a CADD phase between the original manual design and the first phases of goldsmithing. When a piece of jewelry is produced, the techniques are the same. Only the hands of a highly experienced craftsman can bring quality jewelry to life.

One last factor to take into account when approaching sustainable jewelry is trends and responsible consumption. Ideas such as wardrobe essentials or timeless, high-quality purchases that last longer in the closet are ideas that are easily applicable to this field, especially considering that it has always been practiced. Because jewelry revolves around a product idea that lasts a lifetime, it is compatible with the concept of perpetuity in time. We do not belong to the world of the disposable, says Barboni. I will not talk about trends as such. At Luz de Nehca we create funds for jewelers, explains Rodríguez. My main goal is to create jewelry that does not go out of style, and that always adapts to trends while remaining incompatible with either fashion or sustainability. Nyberg confirms it. We try to follow our philosophy, which is based on recycling and giving something old a new life by transforming. At the same time, we like to be aware of the environment, since we have to take better care of the earth, says the designer of Holy Recycle.

In general, I feel that people are showing more and more interest in being more sustainable.