Ecouterre » Eco-Friendly Jewelry

Livia Firth, Chopard Unveil Ethical Jewelry Collaboration at Cannes

Lori Zimmer — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:00:30 +0000

This year’s red carpet for the Cannes Film Festival might as well turn green. In a collaboration with the Alliance for Responsible Mining, the sculptor of Cannes’ iconic and prestigious Golden Palm trophy, Chopard, will present a line of sustainable and ethical gold jewelry. Celebutantes all dolled up for the festival can have piece of mind sporting Chopard’s jewels, which sources gold from small, environmentally sound mines in Colombia and Ecuador.

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Hot Pop Factory Debuts World’s First 3D-Printed Wooden Jewelry

Bridgette Meinhold — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:00:49 +0000

Extruded plastic baubles not your thing? Rapid-prototype firm Hot Pop Factory just unveiled the world’s first three-dimensionally printed wooden necklaces. Named after the northern forest, the limited-edition “Boreal” collection, uses recycled cherrywood filaments instead of the typical powdered nylon. Mixed with a binding polymer, the material even emanates the “slightest scent of charred wood” during the 42-minute printing process, according to founders Matt Compeau and Bi-Ying Miao, who use a Makerbot Replicator for their fabrications. The resulting curvature and heat-induced striations, much like fingerprints or the rings of a tree, are unique to each individual piece.

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Angelina Jolie’s Jewelry Line Will Fund Girls’ Schools in Afghanistan

Lori Zimmer — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:00:25 +0000

Photo by cinemafestival/Shutterstock

Uber-activist Angelina Jolie plans to open another girls school in Afghanistan, funded by a new jewelry line that will be available this week. Called “Style of Jolie,” Angelina herself had a hand in designing the wares, along with jewelry designer Robert Procop. Sales from the anticipated line will help educate the 200-300 Afghani girls that are enrolled in the school that opened last November, with plans to open more schools in the near future.

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: Angelina Jolie’s Conflict-Free Diamond Ring Not So Conflict-Free After All?

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Lumago Designs Turns Landfill Trash Into Wearable Treasures

Kate Peoples — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:53:20 +0000

Photos by Steve De Neef

Would you be surprised to find jewelry designers living off a city dump? Well, meet the women of Lumago Designs, a jewelry company that turns trash to treasure, puts the profit in the right pockets, and is run by a group of women who live off the Dumaguete City dumpsite in the Philippines.Not only do the women of Lumago Designs create bold pieces that any stylish eco-girl would love; they do it with the best of intentions. They buy their upcycled materials from the locals who scavenge the dumpsite, sell their jewelry for reasonable prices, and return the collective profits to the community.

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Artist Upcycles Vintage Teeth, Prosthetic Eyes Into Macabre Accessories

Morgana Matus — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:00:15 +0000

Photos by Gosia Janik y Fernando Ocaña

Like something out a Terry Gilliam film, FEEAS jewelry by Remedios Vincent creates jewelry from antique medical instruments, porcelain figures, and prosthetics. Drawn to objects that have to do with the human body and its improvement, he chooses each piece for its beauty, longevity, and ability to make a statement about he current state of planned obsolescence in fashion. With his motto, “made to dislike”, Vincent’s work stirs feelings of morbid fascination through eyelash encrusted glasses, false eye rings, and broaches spangled with teeth. More than just a way to repurpose aging, outdated medical technology and discarded toys, FEEAS jewelry uses historical context and craft to comment on the lack of quality and skill we find in current industry-driven style.

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Luis Teixeira Recycles Perfume Bottle Caps Into Interchangeable Rings

Helen Morgan — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:00:25 +0000

Photos by Fabrice Ziegler

With their often extravagant forms, perfume bottles are collectors’ pieces in their own right. So why throw them away when their aromatic cargo runs dry? Luis Teixeira didn’t. The Portuguese designer gave hundreds of perfume-bottle tops a new lease on life by recycling them into an eclectic array of rings. Comprising 360 different designs, each one representing a “degree of a circle meaning the complete turn of the recycling,” Teixeira’s “Lust” collection includes only a single ring base. Thanks to a system of magnets, the wearer is able to swap tops at will, creating what Teixeira describes as a “change-and-go facility.”

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Mila Kunis Fronts Gemfields’ Line of Ethically Sourced Emerald Jewelry

Lori Zimmer — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:00:44 +0000

Looks like Mila Kunis isn’t ready to exit the Emerald City just yet. The Oz the Great and Powerful star has landed a new deal as global brand ambassador for Gemfields, a London-based colored-gemstone producer that specializes in ethically mined emeralds. The partnership is a stroke of marketing kismet. The Ukrainian-born American actress is due to appear alongside James Franco and Michelle Williams as the young witch Theodora, rumored to be a pre-Dorothy—and pre-green skin—version of the Wicked Witch of the West.

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Brian Garret’s Modular 3D-Printed Rings Make Changing Looks a Snap

Jasmin Malik Chua — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:35:18 +0000

Wish you could change your look as easily as you change your mind? Brian Garret’s three-dimensionally printed rings are the accessory you need. Each themed edition—choose from “Evil,” “Posh,” or “Shrunk”—consists of a single band that snaps to one of three included “icons” using gold-plated, rare-earth magnets. “Jewelry is often so dull and static,” Garret told MocoLoco in September. “I wanted to change that.” Mission accomplished.

+ Icon Snap Rings $49.99 at Cubify

+ Brian Garret

[Via Freedom of Creation]

Get Kimberly Ovitz’s 3D-Printed Jewelry Straight Off the Runway

Jasmin Malik Chua — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:00:47 +0000

Fallen in love with the jewelry Kimberly Ovitz feted at New York Fashion Week on Thursday? You don’t have to be a fashion insider to snag them straight off the runway. The Manhattan-based designer used three-dimensional printing to create the accessories, which she made available for purchase immediately after the show. A collaboration with rapid-prototyping marketplace Shapeways, the pieces include a necklace, a bracelet, and two styles of earring in either nylon or stainless steel. All of the pieces are designed to cleave to the wearer’s body like armornor a second skin. “The future of fashion is now,” says Ovitz of the print-on-demand baubles, which cost between $35 and $495. How’s that for fast fashion?

+ Kimberly Ovitz at Shapeways

+ Kimberly Ovitz

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“Made in the Dark” Scented Jewelry Helps Blind Artisans Earn a Living

Lori Zimmer — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:00:07 +0000

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Carrie Parry, Kahina Giving Beauty Design Fair-Trade “Pouf” Necklace

Jasmin Malik Chua — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:00:42 +0000

Carrie Parry and Kahina Giving Beauty are doubling your pleasure with a collaboration that benefits education for girls in need. The Brooklyn-based designer and the organic skincare firm have joined forces to create the “Pouf” necklace, a limited-edition accessory fairly handcrafted by female artisans in Morocco. Made with embroidered-wool and glass beads, each one-of-a-kind necklace features blues-busting hues such as orange, magenta, red, and yellow. A portion of the proceeds will go to Education for All, a Moroccan nonprofit that helps girls in rural communities continue their studies past primary school. Another plus? For every necklace you purchase, a tree is planted through Trees for the Future.

+ Pouf Necklace $98

+ Carrie Parry

Sruli Recht Makes A Creepy Ring With A Strip of His Own Flesh

Bridgette Meinhold — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:00:34 +0000

Sruli Recht’s Autumn/Winter 2013 menswear collection has plenty to delight and astonish: polygonal militia jackets derived from walnut wood, sweaters composed of unwound lambswool skeins, and even Trojan Horse-like veneer boots with hinged openings. No item is more surprising, however, than the Icelandic designer’s “Forget Me Knot” ring, a one-of-a-kind bauble made with a swath of flesh from Recht’s own abdomen. (Click below the fold for a video of the operation if you have the stomach for it.)

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The Harbinger Co. Crafts Intricate Bamboo Jewelry in San Francisco

Morgana Matus — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:00:13 +0000

We are already familiar with bamboo as a building material, clothing textile, and food. Versatile and attractive, the grain and texture of the plant makes for beautiful jewelry with a natural feel. The Harbinger Co. uses bamboo for their special and sustainable line of accessories. Crafted by laser cutter, the earrings, necklaces, and pendants are all inspired by the shapes of flower petals, honeycombs, and crystals.

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Upcycle Broken Christmas Lights into Sparkly Holiday Accessories

Tiffany Threadgould — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:00:55 +0000

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Saught Upcycles Cambodian Landmines Into Hauntingly Beautiful Jewelry

Morgana Matus — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:00:59 +0000

It is an incredible paradox of human nature that the same hands capable of creating weapons are also able to craft them into symbols of peace and healing. Jewelry company Saught works with Cambodian artisans to make earrings, necklaces, rings, and bracelets from scrap metal left by landmines. Partnering with Italian NGO Fileo Development Organisation, Saught trains workers in the art of fine jewelery-making as well as providing food and lodging for students and their families. The Singapore-based business offers three lines of socially inspired jewelry with their Freedom from War, Freedom from Poverty, and Freedom from Fear designs. Each purchase contributes money towards subsidizing the workshops, de-mining efforts, and expansion of the startup into other countries that have experienced conflict.

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Nina Khazani Recycles Human Hair Into Curiously Glamorous Accessories

Alyssa Alimurung — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:00:39 +0000

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U.K. Scientists Change the Color of Gold Without Chemical Treatments

Bridgette Meinhold — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:00:41 +0000

Photo by Shutterstock

Sure, we have rose gold, white gold, and well, gold gold, but what if you could have red, blue, green, or even purple gold without chemically altering the precious metal? Researchers at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom opened up a spectrum’s worth of possibilities when they discovered they could change the way gold—or just about any metal—reflects and absorbs light. The secret involves a bit of visual sleight of hand. By etching the metal’s surface with patterns of specific shape and depth, Nikolay Zheludev and his team at Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre are able to manipulate the wavelengths that are visible to the human eye.

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Michelle Lowe-Holder Turns Fashion Industry Castoffs Into Dramatic Jewelry

Alyssa Alimurung — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:00:10 +0000

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Tord Boontje Unveils Cherry-Pip Jewelry at 2012 London Design Festival

Jasmin Malik Chua — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:00:39 +0000

Tord Boontje finds beauty in abandoned objects. The Dutch-born, London-based industrial designer, best-known for his intricate, laser-cut steel chandeliers, finds himself drawn to “the real, the raw, and the unfinished.” Few things are less real or raw than cherry pits—or “pips,” as they say across the pond—the latest material Boontje has his eye on. Gathered from fruit from his aunt’s garden, the seeds take on an unexpected preciousness when they’re interspersed with Swarovski crystals and strung up as jewelry. Part of Boontje’s “Squirrel’s Electro Garden Party” collection, which made its debut at the 2012 London Design Festival, the reclaimed baubles will soon be available for sale at the new Tord Boontje shop in Shoreditch.

+ Studio Tord Boontje

Mega Mega Projects Showroom Highlights Sustainable Jewelry Designers

Lori Zimmer — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:00:03 +0000

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Diana Eng Turns Forgotten Deadstock Beads Into Gorgeous Glass Jewelry

Lea Stewart — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 21:00:11 +0000

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Chilean Eco-Fashion Designers Invade the New York International Gift Fair

Amanda Coen — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 17:00:31 +0000

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Julia Vasic Upcycles Discarded T-Shirts Into Luxurious Jewelry

Jasmin Malik Chua — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 21:00:39 +0000

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Eleanor Salazar Makes Arresting Jewelry From Recycled Billiard Balls

Jasmin Malik Chua — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 21:00:29 +0000

No, you’re not being snookered. Maine designer Eleanor Salazar makes her jewelry from discarded billiard balls. Some wear their varnished numbers like a medal of valor; others, carved and gouged beyond recognition, are less forthcoming with their pool-hall provenance. “There is so much plastic floating around out there that it seems wasteful not to take advantage,” says Salazar, who prefers to leave each ball’s scuffs and nicks intact. “This material also has a very evident past life. One can see and feel where the balls have been hit by each other.”

+ Eleanor Salazar at Supermarket

+ Eleanor Salazar

Global Goods Partners’ “Bracelets for Change” Fund Specific Social Causes

Jasmin Malik Chua — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:00:24 +0000

Global Goods Partners’ “Bracelets for Change” are more than pretty arm candy. Besides providing income for women in rural Guatemala, each ethically crafted wristband also funds a specific product that improves the quality of life of a family in need. Profits from four of the brown “Earth” bracelets, for instance, will help pay for an organic garden that grows nutritious vegetables. Buy six of the dark blue “Water” bracelets and you’ll also be purchasing a water filter to keep one Guatemalan family healthy. Eighteen of the rust-colored “Fire” bracelets are earmarked for a smoke-free stove, while 34 of the light-blue “Sky” ones will outfit a home with solar-powered light so homework and chores can continue after sundown.