Sustainable Jewellery Design: How to Create Eco-Friendly Pieces
Is there anything like environmental conscious jewellery?
There is something called sustainable and eco-friendly conscious fashion that we need to look into! Usually we discuss about the category of eco-friendly cotton and the hand dyed linen, but people forgot thinking about the jewellery in this aspect.
So, what is eco-friendly jewellery?
It all starts with the recycled metals and ethically sourced gemstones along with the fully transparent and zero waste programs involved in it. The brands that make eco-friendly jewellery are responsible for sourcing sustainable jewellery in their supply chain and thus they are opting for the use of eco-friendly jewellery materials. It is important to protect the environment and conserve resources by,
- Choosing sustainable jewellery
- Using natural dyes and pigments
- Choosing ethically made packaging
People are attracted towards shining, sparkling, and considerable pieces of production, but that doesn’t mean that we need to compromise on the sustainability factor. Generally speaking, there is a connection between mining and jewellery and the mining process will destroy the environment, contaminate drinking water with substances like mercury and cyanide. And as a result of which, we suffer from scarcity, energy use, degradation, and pollution and many other serious issues. There is also a pain point that – according to the International Labour Organization, there are thousands of children working
Choosing and creating eco-friendly jewellery:
Nowadays, the eco-friendly consumers are growing rapidly and people are showing interest in making the eco-friendly jewellery from scratch. You can follow the provided tips to make the jewellery:
Using natural materials – Much of the jewellery are made from synthetic materials and they are often made from oil which is not sustainable to the environment. You can try using natural materials like beads and metal pieces which can be more comfortable to wear.
Using recycled materials – By helping the environment to reduce pollution, you can choose recyclable materials for making the jewellery.
Following ethical manufacturing practices – You need to follow ethical practices to make the jewellery and thereby thinking about the environment responsibly.
Ethically sourced gems for making the jewellery:
Ethically sourced gems are the best option to make eco-friendly jewellery. There must be a transparency while buying or creating jewellery and this should talk about the source of gem. The term ‘ethically sourced’ will define the information about workers’s right, health and safety and other pay practices. To ensure the ethically sourced gems, you can also prefer the lab-grown diamonds which is coming up popularly.
The lab-grown diamonds are produced from the machines and this will stimulate the heat and pressure that the earth uses to create natural diamonds. There is no much difference between the lab-grown and natural diamonds and you can go for this option for a sustainable jewellery practice. In addition, some labs are working towards becoming carbon neutral and by using clean energy in their production process.
Creation of sustainable jewellery and their practice:
Sustainable or the eco-friendly jewellery brings safer environmental and social responsibility options. Throughout the jewellery making process, there must be a sustainable practice followed to make the best. This includes from the initial designing to sourcing materials, and the process, production methods and materials used.
The importance:
It is important to buy a sustainable jewellery to protect and preserve our environment and this will reduce the overall impact in the jewellery industry. Nowadays, sustainable jewellery companies are providing transparency in their jewellery making process to the consumers. This is promoting more consumerism and by the way leading to a greater innovation with less impactful methods.
Maintaining and contributing towards sustainable jewellery:
You need to ensure that the jewellery piece you are buying is really eco-friendly and sustainably produced. There are few things to note:
Recycled and vintage metals:
There is a fact that the most precious metals can be recycled and melting down gold or silver is actually a simple process. And, this will turn into a new piece of jewellery by eliminating the waste. From financial standpoint, this creates a great support for the jewellery companies and consumers as the process of recycling doesn’t harm the metal or change anything.
Recycled metals will eliminate the need for mining process and serves better for the environment. Also, we no need to use any harmful solvents to clean the metals and there is no need for separating the metals from the surrounding rock. This will obviously reduce the harmful impact in the environment. When we talk about vintage metals, you can consider a family heirloom or an antique brooch to wear.
Ethically sourced gems or lab grown diamonds:
The lab grown diamonds will provide minimal impact on the environment and these gemstones will have the similar feature like natural stones. The properties will remain same with a smaller environmental and social impact. These are synthetically and culturally created within a lab setting and with advanced technology setting that replicates the conditions needed for natural gemstones.
Ethical production practices:
It is highly important to note the ethical production practices and it differs in different countries with different regulations. As an ethical practice, brands have been working hard on increasing the transparency and by introducing block chain solutions. We must also look into the values that are driving the companies’ sourcing and manufacturing processes.
The brands must have concern about the source of gems and metals and also plans for the future when it comes to pollution, waste management, and traceability.
Wear eco-friendly jewellery that is made from the combination of recycled and fairly mined materials. This will provide you the supply chain traceability for the consumers. Prevent your environment from the high levels of carbon pollution, and also from the poor ethical standards for workers across the supply chain.
