Reflective Images Jewelry Becomes The First Certified Fairtrade Gold Jeweler in the United States
SANTA FE, N.M., August 26, 2015– Reflective Images Jewelry was announced as the first certified Fairtrade Gold American jeweler by Fairtrade International. The company has worked as the US commercial liaison with Fairtrade International to launch the certification program while pioneering their own traceable and transparent sourcing practices in precious metal and gems. Reflective Images Jewelry has begun adding the Fairtrade Gold hallmark on its designer bridal and two-tone jewelry lines. In addition to the certification, the company is also re-launching its brand with extensive new profiles of their latest collection on an updated website, ReflectiveJewelry.com.
“Reflective Images Jewelry has shown great leadership in becoming the first jeweler using Fairtrade gold in the USA. This move in the world’s largest jewelry market has the potential to send ripple effects across the globe,” said Harriet Lamb, CEO of Fairtrade International. “Americans buying that special piece of jewelry can now help make a change in the lives of artisanal and small-scale miners. These miners urgently need improved terms of trade and we congratulate Reflective Images Jewelry on setting the pace for the industry in the way jewelry is sourced,” she said.
“With Reflective Images Jewelry bringing Fairtrade Gold to the North American market, we are expanding the Fairtrade and organic movement and sourcing trends to include the mining sector,”said Marc Choyt, President of Reflective Images Jewelry. “The antidote to the disconnect between jewelry’s sourcing and symbolism is to create a new cultural narrative that actually connects customers to producer communities. There is increasing attention to the source and production ethics of food and clothing. Similarly, Fairtrade gold greatly enhances the value of our custom handmade jewelry and bridal lines to our customers through the relationships it creates,” he added.
Choyt has dedicated much of his time in the last ten years as an activist in the jewelry sector, educating clients and colleagues through Fair Jewelry Action, an environmental justice and human rights network which he co-founded. At his home in Santa Fe, he serves on the boards of the Santa Fe Green Chamber of Commerce and the Turquoise Trail Preservation Trust, supporting sustainable businesses and protecting the bioregion south of Santa Fe. Recently he initiated and co-lead a community effort that successful blocked a proposed gold mine.
About Reflective Images Jewelry
Reflective Images Jewelry was founded in 1995 under the direction of the designer, Helen Chantler, who is the Creative Director of the company in partnership with Marc Choyt, who serves as President and directs business operations.
Chantler was born in England and spent her adolescent years in South East Asia. Throughout her life, she has traveled over much of the world in her quest to experience and understand rich cultures that celebrate the human journey. She has spent decades to developing her own style and techniques working sculpturally, cutting out tiny pieces of gold and silver, which she overlays, making textures to create base relief images and contemporary interpretation of ancient designs. Through her fairtade gold wedding and engagement rings and jewelry which align talismanic meaning with ethical sourcing and artisanal design, Chantler expresses her concerned for the environment and the essential beauty of traditional cultures. The new website re-launching their brand features her latest designs; she says that “Jewelry will always be more than just fashion. It is about what is essential and real and what can awaken us now to beauty and connection.”
Reflective Images Jewelry manufactures, wholesales, and retails. The company has also sold their product to premium companies, catalogs, and is carried in hundreds of stores nationwide. Ethical sourcing and leadership has always been a key component of Reflective Images Jewelry mission and vision. The company won a Sustainable Santa Fe award for its triple-bottom-line practices in 2014, a statewide award for Sustainable Leadership in 2012, the 2010 Jewelers That Care national award for ethical leadership in the jewelry sector; and a Santa Fe Business of the Year award in 2008.
Learn more about Fairtrade Gold from Reflective Images Jewelry.
About Fairtrade Gold
Fairtrade Certified Gold is a groundbreaking initiative linking consumers of jewelry with the source of their purchase, offering a real lifeline to small scale miners and their communities. Working with Fairtrade International, mining organizations are able to meet the strict Fairtrade Standards: working conditions, child labor, women’s rights, cleaner technology, health, safety and responsible environmental management.
Learn more about the Fairrtade Gold Program from Fairtrade International.
