Avilan and The Veracity of “Up-Cycled” Diamonds
Introduction: What are the legacy issues in purchasing a diamond obtained from recycled jewelry? How do you know where this diamond is purchased? These are some of the essential questions in this FJA Interview between Marc Choyt and Jana Hadany, VP of Marketing, Sustainability and Operations at Avilan Diamonds.
Marc: What is your background in the diamond business and how long have you had Avilan Diamonds?
Jana: Personally, I’ve been in the diamond business only since 2010; before I focused on marketing and sustainability. The two principals (Avi and Ilan) have over 35 years of combined experience in the diamond industry. Avilan Diamonds has been buying and selling up-cycled diamonds (called “Storied Diamonds”) since May 2010.
Marc: What has been the response to a branded recycled diamond?
Jana: Just to clarify, we refer to our diamonds as “up-cycled,” a term that resonates more with luxury goods. The response has been incredibly receptive. After two years of prepping and receiving accreditation from SCS Global Services in June 2012, we have just begun launching a PR campaign to further spread the word. Our mission is to spread the word and educate consumers on the ecological and ethical benefits of Avilan’s Storied Diamonds and its clean supply chain, which reinforces the client’s happiness with the ability to provide the consumer with an alternative product to a traditionally mined diamond.
Marc: On your website, you mentioned that you only buy “responsibly sourced” gems. Responsibly sourced has become kind of a catch all phrase these days. To me, for example, responsibly sourced means custody from mine to market. What does it mean to you?
Jana: In Avilan’s case, the term “responsibly sourced” comes from SCS Global Services, the third-party world-wide leader in environmental certifications and auditing, who certified Avilan as the first Responsible Source for diamonds. Responsibly sourced is more than a term for us, it is a standard set by SCS Global Services, an independent, third-party, and backed by a hundred-page legal document of tracing and tracking our Storied Diamonds and business practices from purchase to sale. Thus, we are the first and only third-party certified ethical and responsible source for diamonds, and while the phrase may be a bit overplayed, the rigorous standards and hoops we jumped through to earn that accreditation are not. To us, “responsible sourced” means three things: the diamond has to be post-consumer, certified, and verified by an unaffiliated party.
Our process begins with knowing the source: we verify the stone’s post-consumer status through numerous accounts before having the seller sign a legal document acknowledging its post-consumer status. Our GIA-certified staff examines the stone as well before purchase, looking for previous inscriptions and markings. Once it is bought, we go through a complete I.D. processing of the diamond, including inscribing an alphanumeric I.D. which is then registered with SCS for authenticity. In addition, all of our diamonds are traced and tracked through our inventory software and accounting program, which are validated by an independent auditor as well as SCS. We’ve gone through diligent efforts to be able to give our assurance with honesty, transparency, and integrity.
Marc: Suppose, as a jeweler, I want to sell a diamond to you. How can you determine whether a diamond is newly mined or is actually already existing—perhaps from an old ring or piece of jewelry that has been traded in to be recycled? I mean, I may have a diamond ring in my case for two years—that diamond may be from Zimbabwe for all I know—and then I disassemble the piece and sell it to you. It then becomes a storied diamond? I’m not trying to be difficult here. I am one of your customers, after all. I’m just trying to understand chain of custody issues.
Jana: Before they can even sell us a diamond, they fill out the preliminary New Vendor packet. The packet includes a Merchant Agreement (which makes them liable for the cost of their diamond and defamation of character) and an AML form. Once we assess the diamond or jewelry for ourselves, and if we have any discomfort regarding the condition of the diamond, we might request further documentation from the store, such as a copy of the customer’s drivers license, insurance certificate, or appraisal. We’ve always stressed the importance of knowing the cost of a treasure and its source. Naturally, we have a certain basis of integrity and trust in the industry, but we are not without precautions, systems, and legal channels to inform and protect our reputation. It is also why we encourage working directly with the consumer. We are building a community based on integrity, and we look for likeminded jewelers, such as yourself, and artisans who have the same core values as we do, based on ethics.
Once the diamond passes our rigorous procedure and the diamond’s “background story” has been deemed responsible, we then take the diamond into our inventory and brand it as a Storied Diamond. The goal is that every diamond, and its previous owner, has a story; Avilan strives to continue that diamond’s story by using it to educate consumers and retailers that there is an alternative to traditional diamond mining. Every Storied Diamond is one diamond closer to negating the environmental and social devastation caused by diamond mining.
Marc: I sell almost totally recycled gold wedding rings and also fair trade gold rings, which is a much harder sell because it is more expensive. One of the issues I have is that selling recycled gold rings does not impact mining issues. The only gold that really does that is fair trade gold. Similarly, selling recycled diamonds does not change the lives of the millions of small scale diamond diggers making a dollar or less a day. This is a problem to me and others in the ethical jewelry community. Any thoughts?
Jana: There are two parts to this question: one is about environment and sustainability, and the other deals with the human rights of the miners. To begin with the environment, I would have to respectfully disagree that selling post-consumer does not impact mining issues. For every one carat of rough diamond (resulting in about a half-carat of polished diamond, the average weight of an American engagement ring), an average of 1750 tons of earth must be moved to find it. We figure that every post-consumer diamond we sell means that one less diamond has to be found and excavated at the cost of the planet… and one less diamond that could result in bloody conflicts.
I have been in the sustainable mindset since the early 80’s, and I’m a firm believer in sustainability. I have watched how the “green movement” started in California and now, today, has grown to a larger and national community. Part of Avilan’s goal was to make a change, with the intention of getting other people to follow alongside us to buy and sell responsibly sourced products, which always has led to being able to put pressure on traditionally produced products. If enough people understood that the power of their purchasing dollar speaks volumes, they’d understand the importance of buying products that aligned with their core values. All companies are in business to make money, and if a business was losing sales due to people moving to a recycled or fair trade product, they would change their course to meet the demand of the consumer. As the expression goes, “be the change you want to see in the world.”
Marc: Fair trade diamonds apparently are in the pipeline—or if they are not, they will be soon. Open Source Minerals is working on this project. These are traceable to small scale diamond projects—some of these are associated with the highly reputable Diamond Development Initiative. Would you consider getting involved with this initiative—or maybe working with a small scale diamond community in some ways? What are your thoughts?
Jana: I think this is a perfect opportunity and would be very interested in being involved with this initiative. One of the difficulties to selling only up-cycled diamonds is that we can’t always get the product we need for a specific call. By working with a small diamond community, it would give us the ability to get the specific polished diamonds we need for our jewelers and artisans who design a line that demands consistency. Our diamonds focus very strongly on the environmental impact, and to a certain degree the human rights’ violations, but it would be wonderful to have an alternative with a strong, positive impact for miners.
Marc: Anything else you would like to add?
Jana: Avilan isn’t about perfection, it’s about growth. We constantly strive to hold ourselves to a higher standard, and just because we’ve reached a certain degree of sustainability does not mean we are finished. One of Avilan’s goals is to be 100% paperless by 2014. Our next aspiration is to create jewelry pieces using recycled or fair-trade metals with eco-minded artisans, and to form a network built on shared values, core beliefs and trust. As long as Avilan continues to flourish, we will continue to give back to the local and global community, one diamond and one story at a time.
To learn more about Avilan Diamonds, please visit www.avilandiamonds.com or call 855.434.1444.
