In what could have major implications for the entire gem community interested in Fair Trade Gems, Columbia Gem House is attempting to trademark the term, “Fair Trade Gems”.
From my understanding of this matter, if any one company owns the term “Fair Trade Gems”, no other company will be able to use it legally in the US.
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The Battle of Greenland Ruby
By: Ms. Tida Ravn Nuuk, Greenland
This article by Tida Ravn published in 2008 kicked off a media storm in Greenland. It gives a first hand account of the origins of the 16th August Union, the Inuit Group struggling to retain their rights to collect, polish and sell the rubies that are on their ancestral land.
~ Marc Choyt, Publisher, fairjewelry.org.
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Introduction:
What is an ethically sourced gemstone and who supplies them? While Columbia Gemhouse is widely known, other suppliers are coming on line as well, including the “Open Source” Platform developed by Mike Angenent.
(This is the second of two articles that explore new ethical sources for colored gemstones that are coming into the market.)
To view the information on Open Source, here’s a PDF.
~ Marc Choyt, Publisher, Fairjewelry.org.
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Introduction:
Guy Clutterbuck, who was recently featured in the GIA Winter Loop Magazine, has been sourcing gemstones in Africa and around the world for decades.
His relationships with small scale miners, based on trust, is highly unusual and stands in contrast to the generally toxic relationship between the small scale miners and their typical buyer.
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Introduction:
Helen is studying jewellery and silversmithing at Birmingham City University in Birmingham, England. This is a presentation that was given as part of her course work.
~ Marc Choyt, Publisher, Fairjewelry.org.
Preface – The main aim of my presentation is to discuss Fair Trade in order to ascertain what we as up and coming jewellery designer/manufacturer’s can do to encourage the development of Fair Trade jewellery and to ascertain whether Fair Trade jewellery will ever be available at a price that the mass market can afford.
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Search Google for “fair trade jewelry” and you will find extensive listings of jewelry lines from small producers in the developing world. What exactly companies, (mostly resellers), mean when they call jewelry “fair trade” however, is not so clear.
Fair trade jewelry as a product category is recognized by some fair trade organizations, such as the Fair Trade Federation (FTF Jewelry is also listed as a product category in the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) website.
The mainstream jewelry sector is also slowly emerging into the fair trade jewelry market. Some first movers like Columbia Gemhouse have developed their own criteria for fair trade. From a cross sector initiative, inspired by a World Bank, fair trade jewelry meeting in Oct. 2007, activists are also creating working groups to create fair trade principles and standards from diamonds to manufacturing.
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This is a revised, considerably shorter version of an earlier story that I wrote last year that traces the history of the Inuit movement to retain their rights to mine their local rubies in Greenland.
This piece was previously published in the Epoch Times
To the Inuit in Greenland, a place where the sun may only rise for a few hours a day, the ruby held the divine flame that never goes out.
Niels Madsen knew where the crystal sparkled out of the earth like red stars in the dark arctic night. This particular location, a peninsula of land between two deep arctic blue lakes, called to him.
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Editorial Perspective by Marc Choyt
The Greenland Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) is complicit, through collusion, conspiracy and corruption, of malfeasance towards the good citizens of Greenland.
It is unfortunate that True North Gems has been caught up in this fiasco. While they have made mistakes, they are correct when they say that they obeyed the laws. The fault for the current situation lies with the BMP. What could have been a win-win situation for everyone has become something entirely different.
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The 16 August Union is a small miner’s association of Fair Trade ruby and gemstone prospectors in Greenland, and our supporters. We need your help.
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If you go to the BMP’s website, you will see that all their rules and policies are published in English—except the rules that govern small scale mining.
Several people, including myself, requested that BMP translate this document into English. Initially, the BMP refused to do so, citing costs.
However, due to international pressure, the BMP agreed to post translations of their rules that thwart small gemstone miners in Greenland.
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