Birmingham meets its most precious visitors; the Oro Verde gold team

This week has seen a Fairtrade gold competition taking place at Birmingham City University’s School of Jewellery in collaboration between the school and the Oro Verde green gold programme. And today has been the most illusionary, informative and amazing day for the competition and for Opulent Ethics.

On Monday the brief was given out to students at the School of Jewellery along with presentations about Fair Trade, the impact of mining, the Oro Verde programme and industry developments and tomorrow is the deadline for designs. So we will be waiting with baited breath to see what fantastic designs we receive.

But back to today; as part of London Jewellery Week’s Essence section three esteemed guests have been invited to visit the UK from Colombia and we were lucky enough to convince them to visit Birmingham as part of their whirlwind tour.

Claudia Vallejo, Sandra Hernandez Garrido and Americo Masquero viewing an
Assay Punch at the Birmingham Assay Office

 

Luis Americo Mosquera is an artisanal miner from the Choco Bioregion of Colombia. He is the head of one of seven families which work a mine in the region and share the profits between them. He has been mining the area for 45 years and works the mine with his son, daughter and extended family. The mine is one of the biggest involved in the Oro Verde programme and is on land which was owned by Americo’s parents and grandparents.

Sandra Hernandez Garrido works for Amichoco and heads up the Oro Verde Commercial Unit. As well as working for the Non-Government Organisation which has helped develop and promote the Oro Verde programme she was also our very talented and fluent translator for the day.

Claudia Vallejo is also from Colombia and is a traditionally trained jeweller who runs her business, Biojoy from Bogota. She spent time studying artistic design at Massana in Barcelona before taking this home and translating it into designs which would work in Colombia.

The first stop for our group was the Birmingham Assay Office where we were given background information on the history and standing of the assay office today. Assay Office representatives met with and listened to Americo as he explained how he and his fellow workers mine the land using traditional methods to supply the UK with the world’s only ecologically mined Fairtrade gold.

We then went on a tour of the impressive facilities of the Assay Office. We were shown the stamp room and were given demonstrations of the different types of punches used by jewellers, silversmiths, retailers and manufacturers throughout the UK. But the best bit of the tour happened in the laser room at the Assay Office where our guests were shown and presented with personalised cards of the stamps which are available at the Assay Office including the Fairtrade / Fairmined gold mark and its ecological Fairtrade / Fairmined gold counterpart.

Claudia tries her hand at assay marking some jewellery

Americo with his personalised card of Assay Office punches including the
new Fairtrade / Fairmined and Ecological Fairtrade / Fairmined gold marks 

Close up of one of the assay cards with the Fairtrade marks at the bottom

After this wonderful tour we then rushed across the Jewellery Quarter to the Museum where we were, very kindly, given a private tour of the old Smith and Pepper factory which makes up the museum. It was really inspiring to watch Claudia here as she was fascinated to see pieces of machinery that she uses in her studio at home stuck in the factory time warp. The group also learnt something of the British class system which didn’t allow staff to mix with customers of female workers to operate any of the heavy machinery.

Next we moved onto the School of Jewellery where students who wish to enter the competition were invited to meet and question the Colombian guests in order to help inspire them further. And this time it was not just questions about Americo’s work but also Claudia was asked about how she designs and creates her pieces.

Much to the amazement of us spoilt UK jewellers (and we include ourselves here) we learnt how Claudia alloys and forms her own metal from pure gold. This is something which is not really considered in the UK jewellery industry as we are able to purchase materials as sheet, wire, tube or casting grain quickly and easily. Claudia also spoke of how her designs are influenced by her work at the bench and how she lets her hands influence the outcome of her pieces. This is definitely a very different way of designing when compared with how many of us sit down with a sketch book or computer design software and draw our ideas rather than letting the materials we work with inform us.

After this Q & A session in amongst the hustle and bustle of the School, which is preparing for the students final show next week, we then took a quick tour of the School facilities in order to convey to our guests how the students work and study and the exciting machinery and technologies which are available to them. Hopefully this provided a more comprehensive insight into the processes many of us use when manufacturing our jewellery and silversmithing pieces.

And finally, we visited Weston Beamor, one of the few companies in the UK who are licensed to cast using the Fairtrade / Fairmined gold. Here we discussed both sides’ experiences of the supply chain so far and hopes for the future.

All in all it was a very informative and full day which was, hopefully, as enjoyable for our guests as it was for those of us who took part in showing them round.

So thank you to all who were involved; the School of Jewellery, the Birmingham Assay Office, the Jewellery Quarter Museum and Weston Beamor. But most of all thank you to three very inspirational people. Americo; thank you for believing that the region where you live is special and diverse and did not deserve to be destroyed by large scale mining companies but that it should be cherished and preserved for your families to come. Thank you also to Sandra for working so tirelessly and hard to help ensure that what started as a small operation has now grown into a sector of the industry which provides an acceptable alternative to dirtier materials. And finally, thank you to Claudia who was so inspirational and positive about working with this new and exciting material. We think that her passion is so contagious that not one person who met her today would deny that Oro Verde gold is anything but an amazing material: the most loved gold in the world!

If you want any more information about Oro Verde gold see the Oro Verde website by clicking here. There is also information on the Fair Labelling Organisations involvement here.

So, after a very informative day; that’s all for now….

Ute Decker and Linnie McLarty’s pop-art!

Everything has a “pop” to it these days…pop tarts, pop art, pop music, even pop-up shops and the latest is a pop up gallery. Taking place on

Columbia Road

in Hackney, an area renowned for its sweet smelling Sunday Flower Market this month long exhibition space definitely has the snap, crackle and pop!

Opulent Ethics were lucky enough to be invited to the preview evening on Thursday where we got to view some of the first Fairtrade gold nuggets which goes on sale on Monday 14^th February.

Both Ute Decker’s and Linnie McLarty’s jewellery looked stunning in its new home in Gallery 94 at 94 Columbia Road. There had been an amazing transformation of the space from, what is normally, a fully-functioning workshop, into a sleek, clean beautiful display space for the 2 designer-makers.

Both Ute and Linnie created new pieces which will be produced in the world’s first Fairtrade gold from Cotapata Mine in Bolivia, when it becomes available on Valentines Day. Alongside these beautiful new pieces were ranges of Ute Decker’s sculptural jewellery made from recycled silver and sunflower bio-resin and Linnie McLarty’s colourful, enamelled, clever brooches and hand-made jewellery.

Ute Decker's PURE Arm Sculpture in gold

Linnie McClarty's Brooch

So how did the jewellery look in Fairtrade gold? Did it have an extra sparkle to it? Ute believes that;

“you first fall in love with this jewellery because of the beauty, boldness, and uniqueness of it‘s appearance, and then you learn about it’s inner beauty and ethical make-up and fall in love all over again”.

And Opulent Ethics has to agree. This new gold signifies actual improvements in the lives and environment of mining communities.

And it certainly seems to have got people talking. Esteemed guests at the event included Maurice Mullen from the Evening Standard, Laura McCreddie Editor at Retail Jeweller, Muriel Wilson from the Association of Contemporary Jewellery, Victoria Waugh from the Fairtrade Foundation and Della Tinsley, the Managing Director of London Jewellery Week.

But, more importantly, Juana Pena Endora from the Cotapata Cooperative in Bolivia, the world's first Fairtrade and Fairmined mine, and Manuel Reinoso Rivas, a Peruvian miner and Vice-Chair for the Alliance for Responsible Mining in Peru were in attendance. Both miners had experienced flying and left their respective countries for the first time to take part in the release of Fairtrade gold in the UK. So far they have attended and spoken at events in London, met with those who will be working with the gold, such as Weston Beamor who will be licensed to cast using the gold, at Birmingham’s Jewellery Show and, when we spoke to them, were on their way to Wales to see how mining in the UK compares to that at home.

Opulent Ethics thinks that it was truly valuable and inspiring to see and meet these people who work day and night to acquire the materials that we use to produce our work. These are the people who are fighting to make changes for themselves and their communities and are the people that initiatives, such as Fairtrade gold, is trying to reach. We think that it is time for the curtain to rise and for names and faces to be put to the millions of people who are involved in small-scale, artisanal mining and who have been anonymous for too long.   

For both Juana and Manuel their journey seems to have been an eye-opening education but, hopefully, may have reassured them that they are not alone in their fight. Some of the biggest names in jewellery are now coming together to improve the chances of Fairtrade gold and, by default, those whose lives are entangled in its production.

During the evening Juana was presented with one of Linnie’s silver Chrysanthemum rings which she had tried on in gold earlier in the evening. This generous gift by Linnie was met with incredulity and tears. Hopefully it will be taken back to Bolivia as a symbol of the hope and faith that we all have in the success of Fairtrade and Fairmined gold and, more importantly, in the belief that we can all work together to improve the lives of Juanas and Manuels everywhere.   

      

 

Juana Pena Endora wearing Linnie McClarty's Chrysanthemum Ring in gold

For further information and photos of the evening please see Ute Decker’s website. For other stories regarding the release of Fairtrade and Fairmined gold please see the Professional Jeweller website. And if you wish to see the beautiful jewellery for yourself, Gallery 94 is open until Sunday 27^th February and is definitely worth a look.

That’s all for now….