The Personal And Social Benefits of Responsible Sourcing At Portland Jewelry Symposium

Stewart Grice of Hoover & Strong speaks about Responsible Sourcing to approximately 125 jewelry professionals. Photo by Anthony DeMarco

As mentioned previously, the ninth annual Portland Jewelry Symposium put an extra focus on Responsible Sourcing, a voluntary commitment by companies to take into account social and environmental considerations when managing their relationships with suppliers. 

In addition to the keynote by Bennett Freeman on Sunday, two other presenters opened the eight sessions Monday with their takes on the benefits of Responsible Sourcing. 

The two-day Portland Jewelry Symposium discusses innovations in technology and artistic trends.Teresa Frye, who founded the symposium, says the responsible sourcing of materials for jewelry making is one of the most important current topics for the industry. This year, she said she placed an emphasis on this topic. This year, approximately 125 independent jewelry professionals including retailers, designers and manufacturers attended the event. 

The first, Stewart Grice, VP of Mill Products at Hoover & Strong, a jewelry manufacturer and refiner of precious metals, took the audience into two artisanal mines in Peru, where the company sources its Fairmined gold for its jewels. Among its products, the North Chesterfield, Va., based company produces more than 30,000 eco-friendly and responsibly sourced mill products and finished jewels under the Harmony brand name. They include products sourced with Fairmined gold and silver. 

There’s a premium paid for jewels made with Fairmined gold but in return retailers and end users get gold that is ethically mined without life-threatening chemicals (like Mercury) and the extra money goes toward making the lives of miners and their families better. 

Grice argues that customers are willing to pay the premium if it is explained how Fairmined gold works. “When you buy Fairmined gold this money is invested in community,” he said.

In the case of the two Peruvian mines in Aurelsa and Iquira, this premium is used to improve the safety of the mines, provide power and water to the communities, medical care, cell phones, proper food and even recreational activities, including a soccer pitch in which Grice says may be the highest such field in the world. 

In explaining the harsh conditions at the mine prior to this initiative he said, “These guys were shooting at each other, now they’re playing soccer.”

Only about 15 percent of all independent mines in Peru are regulated by the government, Grice said. The vast majority of mines operate illegally.

One of the requirements of Fairmined gold is that the artisanal mine must be government regulated. This provides an added bonus for the Peruvian people as these mines now contribute to the tax base.

Jewelry designer Toby Pomeroy. Photo by Anthony DeMarco

Jewelry designer Toby Pomeroy, the second presenter, is a pioneer in using responsibly sourced materials in his jewels. In his presentation, “A World Without Design,” he used his own experiences as an example of how a purpose-driven life can lead individuals to find what truly motivates them. 

“In an absence of an inspired context, our lives will not be inspired,” he said. “It will not leave us fulfilled and inspired and not leave other people fulfilled and inspired.”

The Corvallis, Ore., based jeweler talked about his inspirations as a jewelry designer and in his life that led him to making many life choices, including his most important career choice: working with sustainably sourced materials. He is now a world leader in the production of environmentally sustainable and socially responsible jewelry. His launch of “EcoGold” and “EcoSilver” set a new standard, defining ethical luxury. 

In 2006, he learned about the “No Dirty Gold” campaign, which educates people about the impacts of irresponsible gold mining. He learned about the poverty stricken metal miners who work in dangerous conditions and how it contrasted with the beautiful jewels he sells. He thought about closing his business.

“I can’t keep making jewelry knowing the destruction of wide scale mining,” he said. “We’ve been prospering on the backs of miners. For millennia the jewelry industry has been prospering on the backs of other people.”

Pomeroy went to Hoover & Strong to see if the company could purify previously used scrap gold and silver separately from newly mined metals. The company came through but added a 3 percent surcharge for the effort. For the second order the surcharge was dropped. In addition, Hoover & Strong also decided that it was going to develop this business. 

Once seeing that it was doable Pomeroy decided, “This is the direction we’re going.” The jewelry and process was branded as “EcoGold” and “EcoSilver.”

It turned out to not only to be a good ethical move, but a superb business decision as well. After a story appeared about this new use of recycled gold in a trade magazine the consumer press followed, giving his business a great deal of publicity. 

Pomeroy created a pair of hoop earrings, called “Eclipse” made entirely with recycled metals. The elegant, casual and lightweight earrings are flat and wider at the bottom with a rough hammered texture and touch of fair trade diamonds. It then features a subtle bend as it moves up to the ear. The earrings were an instant success. The small store received so many orders for the earrings that he had to develop a way to machine manufacture them without losing the quality, which he did. 

“They loved the shape,” he said. “I just couldn’t make them fast enough.”

Pomeroy seems to be most proud of accidentally starting a movement in the jewelry industry toward responsibly sourced materials.

“Over 100 brands are now using Fairmined gold,” he said. “We’re really causing a revolution in the jewelry and mining industries. Anything is possible.” 

This is the second of three stories about the Portland Jewelry Symposium.

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Bennett Freeman Discusses The Importance And Challenges Of Responsible Sourcing At Portland Jewelry Symposium

Bennett Freeman giving the keynote speech for the Portland Jewelry Symposium at the Portland Art Museum. Photo by Anthony DeMarco

One of the world’s most prominent experts on responsible sourcing told an audience of jewelry professionals that the jewelry and gem industry needs a more comprehensive approach to ensure their products are produced in a humane and environmentally friendly manner.

“You need to come up with a new narrative based around responsible sourcing along the pipeline to crystallize the commitment to align and put together American and North American based players (whether) larger, smaller indifferent,” Bennett Freeman said during a keynote speech Sunday at the ninth annual Portland Jewelry Symposium. “Make a pledge to product process integrity that respects labor rights and human rights, that upholds environmental sustainability, and pledges to be credible, to be effective, to be operational and would probably have to be tied to a competent certification standard that would be transparent and accessible to customers."

Freeman has a long history working with multinational companies, responsible investors, NGOs, governments and international institutions in a number of industries to promote corporate responsibility, sustainability and human rights around the world. He works primarily with larger corporations and organizations but he assured the approximate 125 smaller independent designers, artists, jewelry manufacturers and retailers in attendance at the event in Portland, Ore., that they can also participate in the process.

And there’s no time like the present as corporations have been facing pressure like never before in regard to a number of human rights and sustainability issues by an activist community empowered by the speed and efficiency of delivering messages through digital media, he said.

“These pressures, this kind of scrutiny, is not going to go away,” he said. “The 21st Century is, if nothing else, is the century of sustainability, the century of accountability, the century of transparency. Every company, every industry is going to face ever rising pressures and expectations to be straightforward about how is does its business about the character and quality of its content, of its products throughout the entire supply chain.” 

Teresa Frye, founder of the Portland Jewelry Symposium. Photo by Anthony DeMarco

The two-day Portland Jewelry Symposium is designed to discuss new technologies and artistic trends. In this spirit, Teresa Frye, who founded the symposium, says the responsible sourcing of materials for jewelry making is one of the most important current topics for the industry. This year, she said she placed an emphasis on this topic. In addition, to Freeman’s keynote, two of the eight presentations during the all-day work session held Monday dealt with responsible sourcing.

“I slowly became inspired on the subject and feel that it is the next big thing,” said Frye, who also is owner of TechForm, a Portland, Ore.-based company that specializes in the casting of platinum group metals for the jewelry industry. “The handwriting is on the wall. The Portland Jewelry Symposium is about looking ahead. This touches design, manufacturing and business trends. I think it’s the big one”

The gathering of jewelry professionals at the Portland Art Museum prior to Bennett Freeman's keynote speech. Photo by Anthony DeMarco

Freeman says he recognizes the difficulties of bringing such a diverse and fragmented industry of stakeholders throughout the world together and the difficulties of an industry largely made of small family owned firms having the resources to do this. However, it is something he says has to be done before the industry is swept by the tide of public opinion.

“The time has come for this industry to find greater points of alignment to make a fundamental commitment to integrity as well as to quality,” he said. “This is not easy but there are building blocks within this industry and models from other industries and my sense as an outsider who has had a peek inside is that there is some growing momentum in this direction.”

He mentioned luxury jeweler, Tiffany & Co., Signet Jewelers, the world’s largest specialty jewelry retailer, and jewelry manufacturer, Richline Group, among the three largest players in the U.S. industry, as being on the right track. He is less enthused about the progress of the Kimberley Process, a joint governments, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of conflict diamonds; and Responsible Jewelry Council, which sets standards and provides certificates for businesses throughout the jewelry industry supply chain (from mine to market). But he does describe these initiatives as headed in the right direction.

“My point is that in other industries there are initiatives, there are standards, there are progress being made. Imperfect but nevertheless progress. In this industry, jewelry, and the parts of the mining industry related to jewelry there’s been similar standards and initiatives. The Kimberley Process on rough cut diamonds, as imperfect as it’s been, at least it’s been an attempt,” he said. “The Responsible Jewelry Council with its third party certification standard, while limited in scope, is an important start…. and there are other initiatives underway that touch and directly affect the jewelry industry.”

He added, “The fact is that for a dozen or 15 years now, this industry has been moving in an overall net positive direction.”

Freeman says he is optimistic that the progress will continue and those in the industry will learn how to tackle these issues. 

“I think the industry has become a little less reactive and more proactive in its dealing with issues not just episodically but a little more systematically looking at the fundamentals of these challenges,” he said. “Looking not just to end product content but supply chain process and while these are positive trends they are not irreversible shifts. I’m sure many of you who have tried to push the industry in this direction, it’s just one step forward and a half-step back. But in my experience in working with these kind of issues across industries, progress is rarely linear as we would like and rarely as rapid as we would hope. But the point is that there’s stakes that have been put in the ground by this industry and admittedly often in reaction to NGO campaigns and negative media scrutiny and your anxieties about your customers perceptions, by regulators and government: but nevertheless progress.” 

He added: “I think we are moving toward a real opportunity for the industry. A more comprehensive more realistic approach (to these issues). At stake I think in many ways is the future of the industry. Relationships with customers, the trust that customers have in the integrity of your products and the processes that make them confident that people aren't being abused along the way. That the objects of such beauty are made in ways that also respect human dignity. That’s the vision and I think it is one that I know that many of you in this room are very dedicated to but there are very substantial challenges moving forward.” 

The two-day Portland Jewelry Symposium attracted approximately 125 jewelry professionals including retailers, designers and manufacturers. This is the first of three stories about the event. 

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Bennett Freeman To Discuss Responsible Sourcing At Portland Jewelry Symposium

Bennett Freeman

One of the nation’s prominent experts on Responsible Sourcing, Bennett Freeman, will be the keynote speaker at the Portland Jewelry Symposium.

The Symposium will be held October 2 – 3, at the Sentinel Hotel in Portland, Ore. The event provides education and networking opportunities specifically designed to address the needs of manufacturing retailers and custom designers.

“We are excited to be exploring the topic of Responsible Sourcing this year in addition to our full program” said Teresa Frye, founder of the Symposium. “Increasing interest from the consumers on the origins of precious metals and stones is something that the industry will strongly benefit from learning more about.” 

Freeman has extensive experience in the field, having worked at the intersection of multinational companies, responsible investors, NGOs, governments and international institutions to promote corporate responsibility, sustainability and human rights around the world. “We are very fortunate to have the chance to hear first-hand of his global experiences on the subject,” Frye said.

Rounding out the Responsible Sourcing program will be talks by Toby Pomeroy, designer and one of the industry’s true pioneers in fairmined gold, and Stewart Grice, VP of Mill Products at Hoover & Strong, who will be sharing his recent experiences with fair mining gold practices in Peru.

The keynote compliments the Symposium’s customary topics of Technology, Design, Business, and Bench. 

Other presentations include Andrea Hill of the Hill Management Group on Lean Manufacturing Principles, James Binnion of James Binnion Metal Arts on Successful Casting of 3D Printed Acrylics, Lake Giles of Thinkspace on SEO and Maximizing Web Presence, Chris Ploof of Chris Ploof Designs on Techniques for Creating Mokume Gane, and Teresa Frye of TechForm will present on critical bench aspects of Precious Metals Metallurgy. 

In addition to the talks, Phil Scott of Rio Grande will be hosting bench demonstrations with a focus on Innovations in Finishing. Jim Tuttle of Greenlake Jewelry, Travis Issacson of Lashbrook, and Jennifer Dawes of Dawes Designs will speak on the panel Strategies for Selling Custom Jewelry moderated by Gillian Frances of TechForm.

Sponsors for the event include TechForm, MJSA, Rio Grande, Santa Fe Symposium, Stuller, Gemological Institute of America, Platinum Guild International, Johnson Matthey, Solidscape, Instore Magazine, Metalsmith Magazine, Hoover & Strong, The Richline Group, Otto Frei, Jewelers of America, A3DM, United Precious Metals, Red Sky Plating, Superfit. Lashbrook, and Laminated Metals Technology. 

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