All That Glitters….Tuesday, 6.30pm, School of Jewellery
Amongst a festival programme so jam packed with the best that contemporary jewellery design has to offer, a seminar about ethical jewellery might not be the first thing that jumps from the catalogue pages.
But it’s actually a really topical issue right now. With gold prices sky high and corruption in the diamond industry the subject of hip hop records (Kanye West’s Diamonds for Sierra Leone) and blockbuster movies (2006’s Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo Di Caprio), the dark side of bling has been pretty well publicised.
The seminar’s already got the papers talking…click Here to see a great article by one of our guest speakers, ex Harpers Bazaar fashion editor Sharon Walker.
Granted - you won’t find her brand of ethical gold for fifty quid down at H Samuel just yet. This is top end jewellery with a top end price tag to match (just ask celebrity customers Emma Thompson and Lily Cole).
It’s something I’m sure we’d all be quick to support, but deep down, do we care enough about where our gold comes from? Should we care? Knowing that each and every gold ring creates 20 tonnes of mine waste certainly resonated with me.
We’re all quick enough to pick up a fairtrade latte on our morning commute, so it begs the question - why not buy a fairtrade wedding ring as well?
Maybe it’s a case of running before we can walk- most of us are still getting our heads around recycling our tin cans, after all - but these are important issues at an important time for the jewellery industry.
It promises to be an eye opening couple of hours, and places are EXTREMELY limited. Call Prim Currie on 0121 464 1187 for a guaranteed place (although the speech givers at the launch last week were quick to invite one and all!)
To have the environmental journalist Lucy Siegle (a regular roving reporter on The One Show) and celebrity jeweller Steven Webster giving their views, anyone involved or interested in jewellery won’t want to miss this.
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© 2008 Brilliantly Birmingham
Actually, H.Samuel do have an ethical jewellery stance - as part of Signet Jewelers based in the US and UK they have a stringent policy on gold and diamond sourcing see http://www.signetjewelers.com/pages/450/SEE+Principles.stm#social
They also sell a beautiful bracelet which donates money to the ‘diamond empowerment fund’ - a fund developed by Russell Simmons of DEF Jam records to improve life within Africa where most of the world’s diamonds are sourced from. See http://www.hsamuel.co.uk/webstore/static/features/russell_simmons/jewellery_collection.do
Comment by Fee — December 2, 2008 @ 3:35 pm
I stand corrected! Thanks for clearing that up - it’s good to know that ethical jewellery doesn’t have to be the preserve of the upper classes.
Comment by james — December 2, 2008 @ 8:25 pm
that’s a really informative article! i have long been a supporter of fair trade and organic products and it’s nice to know that even jewelers are into ethical products as well. when you buy something as expensive as precious stones, it’s comforting to know that your purchase did not include payment for some illegal child labor or unethical production processes. it kinds of clear your conscience and you can somehow wear and flaunt your jewels knowing that it was created in a socially and ethically acceptable manner.
Comment by Liz goudprijs — December 3, 2008 @ 12:45 pm