Source: Krista Stryker; Williamette (Oregon) Week Online You’ve probably heard about fair trade coffee, or maybe even fair trade handcrafts or cotton. How about fair trade gems? Eric Braunwart, longtime owner and CEO of Vancouver, Wash.- based Columbia Gem House and its jewelry division, Trigem Designs, started the movement nearly a decade ago, when fair

Roger Smith got in touch with me after the Ethical Jewelry Summit, expressing his regret that he was unable to make the meeting. The resulting correspondence resulted in this interview, in which discusses his project which uses technology to connect the market to remote places around the globe.

One of the difficulties in “fair trade” standards is the issue of, what is a “living wage?” Does a government’s standard of minimum wage constitute “fair wages” in a “fair trade” certification? How do those judging determine, objectively, what a “fair wage” is? In the “fair trade” movement this issue is considered primarily for the