Ethical Metalsmiths Is Developing Best Practice Manual For Studio Jewelers

~By Marc Choyt, Publisher

For the last few years, Ethical Metalsmiths has been in the forefront for the support of ethical jewelry studio practices. They have been involved in a number of projects, including the Radical Jewelry Makeover, which has recently gone international.

One of their latest projects is to develop a manual for studio jewelers. This document, which will provide information on how to be as green and non-toxic as possible, will be geared to both experienced and new jewelers entering the trade.

I am a part of the working group, which is a mix of studio jewelers and academics from universities teaching jewelry skills. Each member of the group is taking a specific area within production cycles, such as casting, pickling, etc, and gathering information which will be assembled into a manual. Part of what I offered assistance with was getting the word out about this work.

The group is using the Green Zia document developed by the state of New Mexico for jewelers as a starting point. Michelle Vitano, of the Green Zia program which developed the study, told me that the information is freely open for distribution without worry of infringement of copyright. Here’s a copy of the Green Zia document.

It is encouraging to know that finished document will be brought right to students, who represent the future of the jewelry trade, and are very awake to the issues of ecology and responsibility.

---