Caring for the environment is a core element of how a piece gets designed here, not a section added to the end of a website. In practice that means three things: we waste as little as possible, we are careful about where stones and metals come from, and wherever we can, we would rather rework something that already exists than make something new.
If you want the detail rather than the summary, our guide to sustainably sourced jewellery goes through what the industry's certifications actually cover, what they do not, and which widely repeated statistics do not survive being looked up.
Zero wastage, and what that actually means
We work to zero wastage systems. Precious metal offcuts, filings and old settings are collected and melted down rather than discarded — in a workshop that makes one piece at a time, almost nothing needs to be thrown away.
Where possible we use recycled gold and silver. Where a client brings us their own metal, it goes straight back into their new piece.
One honest caveat, which we set out at length in the sourcing guide: recycled gold is a true statement about where our material came from. It is not evidence that less gold was mined, and we do not present it as though it were.
Where our stones come from
Our natural diamonds are GIA certified, conflict free and comply with the Kimberley Process. Our lab-grown diamonds are IGI certified. We keep direct relationships with gem miners and cutters, which is the main reason we can tell you where a stone came from rather than just which supplier sold it to us.
For coloured stones we focus on ethically mined material, a good deal of it Australian — parti and ink blue sapphires from Australian fields, Australian opal, Australian champagne diamonds.
We source ethically and we work to give back to the communities we source from. What "conflict free" and "Kimberley Process" actually certify — and the three things they specifically do not — is covered in the sourcing guide.
The honest part about lab-grown
We sell both lab-grown and natural stones and we will always tell you which is which. What we will not do is tell you lab-grown is automatically the green choice.
Growing a diamond is energy intensive and the footprint depends heavily on what powers the reactor. Mining carries real land and water impacts, and also sustains communities that would struggle without it. Credible like-for-like comparisons are scarce, and most of the ones in circulation were commissioned by one side or the other. Regulators in the UK and the US have started acting against unsubstantiated environmental claims in this exact category, and we would rather be useful than fashionable about it.
Our guide to lab-grown versus natural diamonds sets the whole thing out, including real prices from our own rings.
The lowest-impact option is the one you already own
If environmental impact is genuinely your deciding factor, the answer is not on either side of the lab-grown debate. It is to use a stone that has already been mined.
Remodelling uses no newly grown and no newly mined stone at all. Metal from the old piece can be melted down and carried into the new one, so even the gold has a history. It also tends to produce the pieces people are most attached to, which is not a coincidence.
Our guide to modernising family heirloom jewellery walks through what can be done with an inherited piece, what it costs, and — just as importantly — when we would tell you to leave it exactly as it is. Remodelling and heirlooms has before-and-afters and how it works.
Made here, made slowly
Everything is made by hand in Melbourne rather than produced offshore in volume, and most of it is made to order. That is slower and it is deliberate: we are not trying to move stock before the season turns. A piece made for one person, worn for decades and then passed on, is a far better environmental outcome than a piece made for nobody in particular.
Read further
The three long-form guides:
- Sustainably sourced jewellery — what the certifications cover, what they miss, and the questions worth asking any jeweller
- Modernising family heirloom jewellery — what can be done with an inherited piece, and when not to
- Designing the perfect ring — for anyone planning a ring for somebody else
And the reference guides:
- Lab-grown vs natural diamonds
- Diamond guide
- Gemstone guide
- Metal guide
- Caring for your jewellery, which is its own form of sustainability