Environment and ethics

Every business has an environmental and ethical impact - a micro business operated by an indie designer is no different. Plus of course creating jewelry has its own special array of environmental and ethical consideratoins.

If we expect big businesses and governments to make changes to help make the world a better place, then even very small businesses and individuals like you and me need to play a part as well.

Buying handmade from indie designers is one small way that you can help make the world a better place by moving away from everything you purchase being mass-produced - sometimes in very bad circumstances. It also means being supportive of people working for themselves in independent busineses and the community that comes with indie design in particular.

How Simone aims to make a difference

Here is a rundown of how Simone tries to make a contribution towards a better world by way of operating her handmade jewellery business as responsibly as she can.

  • Simone now offers customers the option to make a small carbon offset contribution when checking out. These contributions are collected and donated quarterly to Carbon Neutral - an Australian-run non-profit carbon offset organisation.
  • Simone's metal supplier now uses 100% recycled metal in its milled products, such as silver and gold sheet and wire. Her handmade jewellery pieces are almost entirely made of these products, with just a very small quantity of findings coming from other sources, such as brooch and cufflink findings.
  • All scrap metal left over from creating handmade jewellery is collected for recycling - including filings. Gold and silver scrap is ultimately sent off to be melted down, refined and reused.
  • Simone creates some recycled handmade jewellery designs which are specifically intended to recycle as much of scrap metal as possible so that only small pieces are refined.
  • When selecting chemicals to use in her business Simone always opts a safer and/or lower impact alternative when available, such as borax for flux and citric acid for pickle.
  • Simone does use some gemstones in her jewellery, however, for stones which may otherwise have a higher value and especially which cannot be guaranteed to come from an ethical source, Simone uses lab grown gemstones as an alternative if available. Lab grown stones have none of the potential ethical or environmental issues that mined stones do, yet are identical on a molecular level to the stones they replace. They also have a beautiful clarity and colour, yet are far less expensive to use.
  • Simone recycles all other recyclable materials generated by her business, such as paper and plastic, and uses paper which is at least 50% recycled. She uses other recycled products whenever it is feasible.
  • The hosting for Simone's website and blog is powered entirely by renewable energy.
  • Simone is fortunate to be able to work from her home studio, so there is no daily commuting to be done!

Customer service

Guaranteed happiness button.

Free shipping!

Standard delivery is free to Australian addresses!

Learn more about delivery.

You might like ...

On the blog:

Visit the blog