Good as Gold: A View on More Ethical Options
At Seekd, we’ve made a commitment to sustainable jewellery that’s always environmentally kind and guaranteed to have come from fair and traceable sources. When it comes to finding designers, we want every stage in their crafting process to be transparent and ethical - and that applies to the materials they use, too. Read on to discover some of the alternative materials currently being used in our industry:
As the jewellery industry moves into a new decade, 2020 will be defined by recycled stones and precious metals. Reusing gold is much more sustainable than digging for more, but since it’s difficult to completely remove ‘dirty gold’ from the process, it’s nearly impossible to ensure complete transparency in the supply chain. Over the last few years, we’ve also seen a boom in ethical gold and silver, but the process is still not perfect, so what should you consider this year if you want to be sure that the ring on your finger is as eco-friendly as possible?
There’s more to jewellery than the gold standard. If you’re not convinced by recycled gold or ethical silver, you can rely on steel as a sustainable alternative. It’s incredibly resilient when it comes to wear and tear, often comes from recycled scrap metals, and looks just like silver when it’s been polished up. In fact, Chopard have recently designed a new steel grade, Chopard Lucent Stahl A223, which is produced using 70% recycled steel. Munich-based jeweller Hemmerle use everyday metals like iron, brass and copper in their unusual creations, which feature beautiful pebbles and shells in lieu of precious stones.
It’s not just about the brand, though - for many of us, it’s more about the sparkle. Lab-created diamonds have become increasingly popular due to their status as a sustainable alternative to mined diamonds. Thanks to recent developments in replicating the conditions in which diamonds naturally develop beneath the earth’s crust, scientists have fine-tuned the billion-year process to such an extent that it’s now nearly impossible to spot the difference between a mined gem, and one that took a fortnight to grow in a lab.
Pair this with the fact that the cost of growing lab diamonds has dropped by 90% over the last decade, and it’s understandable that many industry-leaders are turning to lab-grown diamonds for their new collections. Taylor & Hart have been promoting their lab-grown diamonds as an opportunity for ring-seekers to get a bigger stone at a lower price point - with no nasty impact on the planet.
But when it comes to creating beautiful jewellery, mining isn’t the only obstacle to sustainability. Since ancient times, humans have been using ivory in art, jewellery and manufacturing - but we now recognise the need to stop the international trade of this material, thanks to greater understanding of the myriad problems associated with poaching. Bibi van der Velden have found a more sustainable alternative to ivory by using woolly mammoth tusks uncovered in huge numbers under Siberian ice. (Well, sustainable-ish.)
Demec Jewellers provide an option for those of us who can’t afford 60,000-year-old tusk jewels: a special palm seed from the Amazon Jungle. Known as vegetable ivory for its distinctive colour and hardness, the material requires a bit of patience (it can take up to 20 years for the seed to dry naturally, before it can be carved) - but it’s considered the only eco-friendly substitute for ivory. Vegetable ivory is now being used to tackle deforestation in the rainforest, but it’s been used for 200 years to make fine products like buttons, carvings and the handles of walking sticks in lieu of real ivory - so as sustainable trends go, this one is tried and tested.
When it comes to ecologically friendly design, jewellers aren’t shying away from the possibilities of plastic - like Yago Eco, who are collecting single-use plastic bags from local communities, washing and melting them, and pairing them with locally sourced sterling silver to create beautiful, unique pieces. (They’re looking into recycled silver at the moment, too.)
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Seekd are here to help you invest in fairly produced, quality items that you’ll love for a lifetime. Take a look through our collections to learn more about the Seekd ethos.