Ethical Practise
Being mindful of the process
I choose to buy my precious metal from a merchant that uses only recycled raw materials wherever possible. This means that they try to not use materials that are obtained from mines but only use metals that have come from scrap such as jewellery and photographic or any other forms of scrap that they are able to purchase. Because my metal supplier makes almost all of their own mill products in Australia they are able to keep tight control of what goes into them, and are also able to ensure that their manufacturing processes use as few resources as possible.
When I purchase ready-made jewellery to sell, I look into the ethical background and practises of the supplier I am purchasing from and make sure they treat their staff with respect and kindness. Much of the jewellery I have not made myself has been made by personal friends of mine, so I sell it knowing its background from start to finish.
There are issues in the gem and jewellery industry around “blood diamonds” and “conflict gems” etc. This is a major issue affecting the industry and unfortunately there will always be people trying to do business the wrong way. With gemstones though, there are now many protocols in place to limit the amount of these stones within the market, there is next to no conflict when it comes to gemstones like citrine or topaz for example, and there is none with Australian mined Diamonds.
Importance of Provenance
I inquire about the origin of a gemstone when purchasing from one of my trusted suppliers. For high end stones, the country and if possible area and mine will be sought after. For low end stones, usually the continent or country will be provided. If you would like confirmation when purchasing a particular stone, please contact me directly through my email.
I believe that Jewellery is an important purchase choice and as a Jeweller I have a responsibility to create a trust with my customers. Louise Shaw Jewellery offers custom jewellery, over 90 percent of which has been personally been made by me. Out-sourced jewellery has it noted in the Jewellery description, will be from a Jeweller or manufacturer I know and will have been inspected by me personally for quality control. Quality, beauty and ethical integrity are all are taken onto consideration before a product is made and placed onto the website, so that you can feel secure with your purchase. My workshop is in Byron Bay, so I do a lot of work for customers from Ballina and up to the gold coast and Brisbane as well as over seas.
When manufacturing Jewellery my ethical choice is to buy metal from a merchant that uses only recycled raw materials wherever possible. Rest assured that when purchasing, you are purchasing a quality piece of Jewellery.