Obviously the “Go Green” movement is huge right now.  It is so huge it has even leaked into the jewelry business (which is huge because this is one of the slowest moving industries).  There are lots of jewelers out there that claim to be making and selling “Green” jewelry.  The questions is whether it is actually green or not.

Jewelry by nature, is not green.  The mining of gold and gemstones is not exactly green since it disrupts the earth, not to mention how it affects the people actually doing the mining.  Casting is not exactly green because of the chemicals used in the process.  Even jewelry finishing isn’t really green because of the polishing compounds used, and again, the human rights issues.  Even though jewelry is not by nature very green, there are ways to be green-er.

Most companies claiming to be green use what they call “recycled metal.”  This means that they take gold that has already been used for jewelry or other things and re-cast it into something else.  The idea is that by using “recycled” gold, they are reducing the need for gold mining.  This is a great idea in theory and even sometimes in practice.  The problem has to do with the casting process.  When someone casts from casting grain, there are no chemicals in the casting grain that can weaken the finished piece.  They do add something called flux in the casting process to help the metal flow better which doesn’t generally affect that piece of  jewelry unless the caster uses way too much flux.  When someone takes a piece of gold that has already been cast into a piece of jewelry and melts it to cast it into another piece of jewelry, the small amount of chemicals that was in the first piece can start to affect the integrity of the second piece.  This isn’t always an issue, but it can be.  The more times gold is put through the casting process, the more chemicals are added, and the more likely it is to affect the finished product.

One way to get around this but still be slightly green is to sell your jewelry that you don’t wear anymore to one of those “Cash for Gold” places.  I know it sounds stupid, but the gold you sell to these places is sent to a refinery which takes all of the chemicals out of the gold and turns it back into pure casting grain that is then used to make more jewelry.   I don’t know how “green” refineries are, but at least your gold is being re-used and helps with the need to mine more gold out of the earth.

The same idea can be applied to gemstones.  I don’t know of anyone who will buy your gemstones (unless they are getting gold too) but you can always re-use them yourself.  If you take all of the stones from your jewelry that you never wear, use them in a new piece that you will wear, and sell the gold, you have just prevented the need for mining more stones for a new piece of jewelry for yourself.

The big “thing” with diamonds (and other gemstones) is how the people involved in the mining and initial selling of the stones are treated.  I don’t think any jewelry store in the US would knowingly sell “conflict diamonds.”  All of the vendors they buy from claim to use diamonds that are “conflict free.”  There are ways that you as the consumer can be sure that what you are buying are conflict free.  There are stones that you can buy with certificates of origin.  I think Wal-Mart even has a new line that has certificates of where the metal and stones in a piece have been.

My concern is still how the people involved are being treated.  Even if a stone is “conflict” free, that doesn’t mean the miners were treated well and paid a fair wage.  Same for the cutters and even stone setters.  If this is something that concerns you, I recommend buying Canadian diamonds.  The diamond mines in Canada are some of the best in the world (most likely, I don’t know for sure) for safety for employees, fair wages, etc.  You have know though, when you buy anything, diamonds, jewelry, anything that has better conditions for employees, you are going to have to pay a little bit more.  I think Canadian diamonds are around 10% more than African diamonds.

I personally do what I can to be a “green” jeweler.  I don’t have the ability to used recycled gold, but I encourage my customers to buy jewelry wisely.  If you only buy pieces that you really love and will wear, you are already reducing the affect of jewelry on the environment.  I am happy to use stones that a customer already owns.  A lot of “custom” places are really trying to sell you a diamond or a gemstone.  The biggest thing I try to do is keep everything local or at least within the US.  Jewelry made in China, India, Hong Kong, etc. is less expensive because of the working conditions for jewelry manufacturer employees.  By manufacturing in the US I am not supporting how other countries treat their people with low wages and unsafe work environments while also supporting industry in the US (local manufacturing also reduces the need for fuel to transport jewelry.)

If you are looking for “Green Jewelry,” keep in mind that recycled materials are good, but you can be responsible without them.  Don’t buy jewelry unless you really love it, sell your old gold back to jewelers so it can be refined and used for any kind of jewelry, and re-use your own stones that you already have.  I will always do what I can for the environment so if you have any ideas of how to be “Greener” with jewelry, please let me know and I will be happy to do what I can!

Diamonds can come in any color of the rainbow. Generally, if you see a diamond that is not white, it is treated (or you are going to pay a pretty penny for it.) Diamonds are generally irradiated to get them to change color. Irradiation is a permanent and generally safe process that is applied to natural diamonds. I say generally safe, because it is not ALWAYS safe.

Yellow Diamond

When the first person started irradiating diamonds, they used radium salts which did change the color of the stones, but also made them radioactive. Even the next evolution of irradiating diamonds left them radioactive for a few hours after treatment.

Today, electron bombardment is used to change the color. The electron bombardment changes the stone to blue or green color. The stone is then annealed (heated) if they want to the stone to be orange, yellow, brown, or pink.

I found the company Suncrest Diamonds in Tuscon that is using a whole new idea to change diamond colors. This company has found a way to achieve the same colors with heat and pressure that you get with irradiation. Most of their stones are yellow but when I was in Tuscon they had reds and oranges also. This could be a good option for red diamonds since reds are the rarest color found in diamonds. Their stones are a bit more expensive than the usual irradiated stones, but the colors are amazing and permanent without the having to explain irradiation to a customer.

I went down this year to renew some contacts, make some new, and to see what was cool in the business this year. I attended both the AGTA and GJX shows. I know that means I missed way more than I saw, but at least I wasn’t tempted to buy anymore then I did at the 2 shows I went to. It is a recession after all.

Unfortunately the effects of the recession could definitly be seen. There were fewer booths and fewer buyers then in previous years. The technology pavilion at the AGTA show was at least 1/2 of what it usually is, for example. Despite this, there was still plenty to see and do.

Paraiba Tourmaline

Every year there seems be the ‘in’ stone that everyone is pushing. The last show I went to the popular stone was Tanzanite. While tanzanite is still a popular stone, it was easy to see that this years ‘in’ stone is Paraiba Tourmaline. Paraibas are a very, very rare blue-green colored stone that come from Brazil and Africa. It is so rare to find 1 karat Paraibas that the ones that are mined cost 5 digits per carat! I have to wonder, because they are so rare, if some of the stones that were shown as Paraiba, were actually a blue tourmaline that was close in color, but not actually a Paraiba.

Turquoise in a pearl

Another interesting idea I saw was in the Galatea booth. They have a new line with turquoise beads inside pearls. They get them by placing a turquoise bead in an oyster and waiting a year. After the oyster has had the time to make a pearl over the turquoise, they take it out and carve designs into the pearl so the turquoise shows through. They can also set a diamond into the pearl to create something I have never seen before.

Overall it was a great show. I had an excellent time seeing all the sites, made some great business connections, and got some great deals on stones to use in some design ideas I have. Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

Instead it was a group of people who wanted nothing more than to work together to get through the next few months until business picks up or at least until everyone can get caught up. It was so fun to hear what other retailers are doing to drive business and what lines are working for different people. It was also fun to see how the vendors are hunkering down and working on inexpensive but super pretty merchandise to sell while people are watching their pennies.

It will be interesting to see how the economy effects the mood at the show. I know that the company I am going with has NO budget but I wonder about how everyone else is going to approach this.

Update: I have written a follow-up CBG article with my post-show thoughts.