The Ethical Jewellery Manifesto

We are the ethical jewellery movement. We are artists, designers, manufacturers, traders, retailers, journalists, workers, citizens of the world. We love jewellery, but we don’t love jewellery that facilitates the abuse of Planet Earth and those who inhabit it. This manifesto is an invitation for you to join us in our mission to change the world, one gram of gold at a time. 

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In our mind’s eye…

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1. Jewellery honours ancient natural materials and their intrinsic beauty, linking us to Mother Earth. Precious metals and gemstones are formed over deep time through complex geological and cosmic processes. They are survivors of the immense timescales of the universe’s evolution – and reminders of the comparative limitation of human experience. But throughout history, jewellery has centred on systems of greed and abuse; the exploitation of human beings, motherlands, natural habitats and finite material sources. Precious metals and gemstones are the fruits of our planet’s womb. We would once again like to see natural resources hailed as the treasures they are; not viewed as pound signs through the lens of capitalist gluttony.

 

2. Jewellery is centred on reparations. Those who appreciate jewellery must also acknowledge its roots in colonialism, slavery and violations of natural landscapes. As museums are forced to return stockpiles of stolen artefacts to their rightful owners, now is a prime opportunity to question the western world’s monopolisation of beautiful things and our deep-rooted associations of the ‘third world’ with inferior human life. Charitable donations alone are not enough if people continue to be viewed as wealth-generating tools, entrapped by a lack of alternative employment options. Truly beautiful jewellery is that which actively strives for restorative justice, however complex that process might be.

 

3. Jewellery revels in the possibilities of circularity. Jewellery deals in some of the strongest materials known to man. Why are people hoarding unseen diamonds in underground deposits or discarding precious metals in wastelands when they could be reintroduced to the pool of possibilities, creating new legacies for eternity? Normalising the processes of reusing and recycling would enable us to pare back the large-scale extractive activities placing so much pressure on our planet.

 

4. Jewellery redistributes wealth. Whilst the largest proportion of the jewellery industry’s revenue is slipped into a few bulging pockets, those at the roots of supply chains feel the least benefit. We want jewellery to foster structures that close vast wealth gaps by ensuring that fruits of labour are enjoyed only by the hands that touch the materials; not the faceless machines with no relationship to them.

 

5. Jewellery lends people a voice. We want to see an end to the socioeconomic binaries that disenfranchise people. We want to see a wealth of colours and flavours embraced, with every worker in the jewellery supply chain seen, heard and valued equally. From London’s Hatton Garden to Spain’s Via de la Plata and Jaipur’s Mirza Ismail Road, craftsmanship is rooted in communal spaces, parallel experience and shared knowledge. A transparent open-source democracy would enable us to lend our skills and resources to one another freely, nurturing creativity and once again fostering the sense of community that craftsmanship was built upon.

 

6. Jewellery tells stories honestly. Since the day we first happened upon Mother Nature’s gifts, we have communicated via the medium of jewellery. The wedding bands bonding one human being to another, the remodelled heirloom pendant honouring a late family member, the gold medal that says “You did it”… The driving factor is emotion. For hundreds of thousands of years, human beings have excavated jewellery from the ground, decorated their lifetimes with it, then buried one another wearing it. Jewellery is a spiritual connection to ancient civilisations, our ancestors, our inner selves, the after-life, and Mother Earth. May we shirk the inauthenticity of dishonest storytelling; of green-washing, foggy supply chains and ‘the best deal’. Lest we allow financial incentives to rot the core of this beautiful art form; the only art form to encompass the entire human experience in this way. Let’s be candid and define our industry by the human beings that keep it alive; the sentiments, symbolism, experiences, knowledge and skills that unite us as emotional creatures.