Agenda for the Upcoming Ethical Jewelry Summit
Posted on September 25th, 2007 by Marc Choyt
It is impossible to know what is taking place around ethical jewelry sourcing without reviewing The Madison Dialogs. If you review the companies involved, you will see that this movement is gaining serious traction in the jewelry industry.
Sponsored by Earthworks Action, the Madison dialogs have resulted in a focused, coordinating effort that has resulted in an upcoming ethical jewelry summit to take place in Washington DC. this Oct, 2007. To learn more about the Madison Dialog and the upcoming event, click here.
http://www.madisondialog.org/index.html
Here’s a previous interview by the director of the Earthworks Action.
I’m just getting started designing and making jewelry. I use Hoover and Strong for my silver and gold and need to find an ecologically responsible supplier for semi precious beads and gold and silver beads…
Hi Linda,
Thanks for your comment.
This is one of the issues that I am struggling with in my manufacturings. I have not been able to find any international source that uses totally recycled metal in their production. However, I do know of companies that make beads that work on a fair trade basis internationally. As for semi-precious stones, again, I have not been able to trace sourcing back of the semi-precious gems I use– many of which come out of India. I plan on having discussions with my stone suppliers in Tucson this upcoming Feb around these issues.
The current state is such that the main efforts around fair and eco sourcing has been in the high end, not the medium and low price point categories. You can visit Columbia Gem house to see what Eric Braunwart has done– he is one of the driving forces in ethical sources gems.
If you find any ethical sources for semi-precious, please let me know.
Marc
reflective@cybermesa.com