Why Fairtrade Jewellery?
Welcome to my fair trade jewellery blog
In 1999 my friend Christian and I traveled to India on a trip to buy fair trade jewellery. We insisted upon visiting a local garnet mine to better understand the source of our jewellery. It was a horrendous parade of child indentured labour and gender exploitation in a 110f degrees of heat with no clean water. Hell is a real place.
Since then I have campaigned for real change in the jewellery sector. Fair Trade is a simple idea that has the power to revolutionise an industry that has a moral and ethical disconnect between the source of the product and the customer that wears it. It is the idea of putting the small-scale miner at the heart of the jewellery story. Its the idea that the environment and eco-system from which our precious metals and gemstones emerge is not there to be abused but cherished. It is the idea of connecting the source with the high street and putting more value into the hands of the small-scale miner and guaranteeing a better deal for them.
It is my desire to make it culturally unacceptable to buy a piece of jewellery that is not socially and environmentally certified as responsible. Since starting out on this journey in 1996 I have seen huge changes in an industry that is notorious for being conservative and secretive. This site is dedicated to calling for change and to recording the movement as it happens.
