Take one part silver nuggets, one part roaring flame and what results is a lifelong obsession. It all started with that single crucible of shimmering, glowing metal. In 2010, armed with a fine arts degree and no clue about my next move I signed up for a part time jewellery course for no real reason at all. Twenty minutes in and I was filling out the paperwork to study jewellery design and manufacture full time.
This impulsiveness was completely out of character, and looking back, an even clearer sign that I had found, quite by accident, the craft I wanted to spend my life perfecting. Now for the problem; I am and always have been a passionate advocate for sustainability and grew up around and later was involved with amazing NGOs working towards social and environmental justice. I had seen first-hand what unchecked mining does to communities and landscapes and here I was about to embark on a career in one of the most fraught industries in the world. Ummm….
It seemed that the only way to bring my passion for sustainability and my newly discovered obsession with the craft of jewellery making together was to forge my own path. And so, I took the leap and started making jewellery using silver recycled from photographic waste in the unused half of my grandparent’s garage. The rest of our story is years of hard work, late night research and serendipitous connections.
We partnered with our e-waste refiner in 2015 and made our very first ring out of gold recycled from e-waste in the summer of that year. The first in the world at the time.
Since those early days we have grown into a small team of passionate hands specialising in minimalist jewellery crafted in precious metals reclaimed from circuit boards by a small refinery right here in South Africa. We believe in slow fashion, in mindful consumption, in style that transcends trends. Our contemporary designs are pared down to their essential elements; simplicity and quality craftmanship become as timeless as the materials themselves.
Our hope is to return to a view of jewellery as an heirloom worthy of passing down; not just of the object itself but also of a more just world for our future generations to wear it.
Ashley Heather (Founder)
“We believe that while some metal mining may always be necessary, ultimately our most important extraction operations should be taking place in scrap yards and recycling centres rather than sensitive ecological areas and ancestral lands.”
Ashley Heather
Mining just ten grams of gold displaces 4800kg of earth. But gold isn’t only to be found underground, in fact a significant proportion of the world’s gold supply is already above ground and much of it in a very surprising place…our landfills.
E-waste (electronic waste) is a blanket term for discarded electronic products or components. These devices often make use of, amongst many other materials, small amounts of gold and silver due to both metals’ remarkable electrical conductivity. The average computer for example has about a fifth of a gram of gold in it.
Only 12.5% of e-waste worldwide is currently recycled, the balance being left in landfills where it begins to degrade releasing toxins into the air, soil, and groundwater. In the United States alone cell phones containing $60 million of gold and silver are dumped every year. This hardly seems a fitting end for one of humankind’s most venerated substances.
Our refining process begins by manually dismantling the waste electronic products. All the components are then sent their separate ways for recycling. The circuit boards are run through a shredder before being fed into the furnace. This results in two materials, the slag which is a by-product (it gets a second life in the construction of roads) and a mixed metal mass. This mass is a combination of copper, gold, silver and, depending on the type of e-waste, a few other metals. Next, the most technically challenging aspect of the recycling process, the precious metals are separated out into solutions before being melted again in the final stage to ensure a pure, high quality material.
The recycled gold and silver begins its new life in our Cape Town studio where it is alloyed and meticulously crafted into easy-wearing jewellery.
Everyday provides a fresh opportunity to interrogate what it really means to run a green company and whilst our dream of a fully solar powered operation may still be years away that doesn’t stop us from making considered decisions today and every other day. We believe in an holistic view of resources and strive to make all the supporting processes around our e-waste recycling and jewellery manufacturing as eco-friendly as the material itself.
Our refinery works tirelessly to manage, capture and neutralize the emissions from the recycling process. The controlled laboratory environment, operated by skilled chemical engineers, means that environmental and personal health and safety are at the forefront of every process.
In the studio we make use of natural, non-toxic alternatives to harmful chemicals common to the jewellery trade. All our gold and silver dust and offcuts are carefully saved and recycled again, keeping the circular economy loop tightly closed. All our non-jewellery waste is sorted and recycled. We source as many of our supplies and tools as possible locally to keep our carbon footprint as small as possible.
Your jewellery will arrive in recycled and biodegradable packaging (we’re still working on the plastic courier bags issue). The hand sewn hemp bag is designed to last, to be used for storing and protecting your jewellery (or other little bits and bobs). Hemp grows prolifically with little water and no pesticides.
Both our studio and refinery aim to cultivate friendly, safe and respectful environments with fair wages and no discrimination. We are nothing without our passionate team and commit to their wellbeing over all else. We work with a network of reputable and trusted e-waste collectors, many of whom are small family run businesses. We pay a fair price for the e-waste we purchase (of course we value your donations as well) and regularly visit our e-waste aggregators at their sites for a cup of coffee and a check in.
“I fell in love with jewellery design because of its intimacy with the body, jewellery becomes a way to carry our stories with us”
Ashley Heather – Founder
Our mission is to create jewellery with intention and thoughtfulness. To craft pieces that are not only capable of keeping up with you but also designed to accompany you on your many adventures through life, both great and small.
We believe in honouring the ancient art of jewellery making; some techniques of which have remained unchanged for centuries. In a world of increasing mechanisation we strive to keep these handskills and traditional knowledge alive whilst also embracing cutting edge techniques and processes, never where they are simply more convenient but where they add their own unique value to the piece.
Whether you choose a piece from our online store or have something custom created it will be lovingly and expertly crafted in our Cape Town studio. No overseas outsourcing, no opaque labour practices, just a small team working together right here. We are proud to work with a network of skilled artisans around Cape Town for specialist tasks such as stone setting and engraving and in so doing contribute to keeping the vibrant jewellery manufacturing industry alive and well in our beautiful city.
Just because our gold and silver are recycled doesn’t mean we are prepared to compromise on quality. Our recycling process yields pure, high quality metals, just like those freshly extracted from the earth. All our pieces are solid gold or silver, never plated nor treated, so they will hold their colour for generations to come. All our stones are sourced from certified dealers, are always conflict free and specifically chosen to meet your needs.
We feel a great responsibility to ensure that the objects we put out into the world are worthy of the resources that went into creating them. Quality materials, meticulous craftmanship and intentional designs are all part of our quest to ensure that our jewellery is designed for you to wear daily and to treasure for a lifetime. We delight in distilling an idea down to its essential qualities, our minimalist designs are simple and timeless.
January, 2025
Wednesday
August 26,2019
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