Eco Friendly
As a jewelry designer, my love of gold is undeniable. However, modern practices and consumption of these precious minerals have raised many concerns about ethics and consequences on the environment.The mining process that produces the amount of gold used in one simple wedding band produces 20 tons of waste into the environment, including dangerous chemicals such as mercury and cyanide.
At an estimated 0.005 parts per million, gold is one of the ten rarest elements existing in the earth’s crust and over 90 percent of the world’s gold has been mined since the California Gold Rush. So in other words, it would be rarer to find a one ounce nugget of gold than it would a five carat diamond!However, what it lacks in abundance, it makes up for in stability and resilience. One piece of gold can be melted, stretched, hammered, and molded again and again. A third of gold on the market at any one time is recycled. It is a material that is never thrown away, but can always be refurbished, repurposed and reused.
Due to the many unethical methods and dangers of mining gold in this day and age as well as its scarcity, I believe in using only recycled materials and conflict free stones in my store. Not only is it less harmful and wasteful, it is practical and inspiring to breathe new life into an old piece. I pledge to make beautiful jewelry out of fine materials which will last forever. I love when a client comes to my studio and brings an old, antique piece that I am able to reuse or remake into heirloom quality jewelry.