Opulent Ethics new Ivoire Innovantes range

You may have heard Opulent Ethics talking about the vegetable ivory that we have been experimenting and working with over the past few months?

Well here it is…Opulent Ethics’ latest Thai inspired range of jewellery; the Ivoire Innovantes Range.

Opulent Ethics' Prajam Yam vegetable ivory and 100% recyced UK silver ring

The range currently consists of 3 rings and 2 pairs of matching earrings. Each piece contains some vegetable ivory and is made using 100% recycled UK silver. There is also some Oro Verde 9 carat gold used in one of the pieces.

Opulent Ethics' Phoom Kao vegetable ivory and 100% recycled UK silver earrings

For those of you who don’t know, vegetable ivory, otherwise known as tagua nut, comes from the Amazonian tagua tree. Each nut is dried in the sun for between 6 – 8 weeks until it becomes hard.

Tagua nuts in their raw form 

The nut, once the skin is removed, is similar in colour to animal ivory but that is where the similarity stops. The tagua nut is a bi-product of the tagua tree whose roots are used in medicine, leaves are used for the roofing of houses in local communities and dust from the trees is also added to animal feed due to its high energy content.

The nut is very hard so is perfect for carving, milling, cutting, lasering, turning…anything that you want to try can be done. Opulent Ethics used a laser cutter-marker to shape and mark slices of our nut and the result gives a beautiful, slightly burnt appearance to the vegetable ivory…perfect!

That’s all for now….

Vegetable Ivory the new material in fine jewellery?

This week Opulent Ethics have been working with vegetable ivory (real name Tagua) for our new range which will be produced in early 2011. We bought the nuts in their rawest form from Ockenden Timber in Wales and have spent the time since experimenting with what the ivory can and cannot do.

Tagua nuts in their raw form

Tagua nut is taken from the Palm Nut Tree in the Amazonian rainforest. The nuts grow in clusters on the tree and once harvested they are dried for between 6 – 8 weeks. The trees are sustainably grown and reach maturity in between 3 – 8 years. Once the nuts drop to the floor they can be harvested. The drying process leaves an extremely strong nut which can be used with carving, turning, jewellery or figurine production. The material provides jobs for hundreds of farmers in and around the Amazon.

Projects have been established by numerous organisations in the region to bring the nuts to prominence as a way of protecting the already endangered rainforests. By using the nuts as a sustainable crop jobs and wealth are being brought to the area allowing infrastructure to be developed.

So how do you use it and what can be done with it? Emily Richardson is a jeweller who uses vegetable ivory in her 1920’s inspired pieces. She uses the ivory in its natural form and colour, shaping and polishing the nut into chunky shapes before combining it with 18ct gold. Other jewellers who use the material include LeJu Designs who produce colourful jewellery and beads.

So how will Opulent Ethics use it? This is what we are currently working on and we are designing around what we have discovered in our experiments. We know that the material can be carved into exquisite shapes with much detail due to the research we have been doing on Japanese Netsuke carving. Vegetable ivory has been used for many years in the wood turning industry and Opulent Ethics have managed to have some of our tagua turned into cabochon shaped pieces.

 Cabochon cut vegetable ivory

Using exciting laser technology we have been able to cut and engrave the ivory with beautifully accurate detail. Experiments using the laser cutter-marker machine at our disposal has shown us that the best results are on slices no thicker than 3.5mm for cutting and require the laser to pass over the piece numerous times in order to cut through the material. This may restrict our designs somewhat.

 Laser cut vegetable ivory slice

Engraving through the skin of the nut leaves a beautiful, clean line whereas engraving on the ivory coloured inner material leaves some discolouration on the flesh which requires cleaning up afterwards. The lines are neat but the need for cleaning afterwards means extra work which slows the process of assembling the jewellery pieces.      

Carving by hand is a little bit more difficult due to the hardness of the material but is a delight to work with. The material cleans up nicely and can be polished to a high sheen. There is also a lovely contrast between the dark brown of the skin and the pale, clean ivory of the inner.

Overall, Opulent Ethics is looking forward to creating some beautiful fine jewellery pieces using this new and exciting material. We are hoping to use Fair Trade gold and ethically sourced stones within our pieces so watch this space!

That’s all for now. See you in 2011!....

Has Michelle Obama made a mammoth error of judgement?

She’s considered one of the most stylish women in America, often spoken about in the same breath as Jackie Onassis. She is well educated, has a successful career, is a mother of 2, married to the most green-conscious President and wears ivory!

Yes that’s right Michelle Obama has been spotted recently wearing numerous pieces of jewellery by Monique Péan made from mammoth ivory. So how does this fit in with her style and beliefs? Does mammoth ivory deserve the negative reputation of elephant ivory? And are there any alternatives?

Michelle Obama wearing numerous Monique Péan pieces

In conclusion, Opulent Ethics are concerned over the growing popularity of mammoth ivory and feel that the mammoth fossils being found would be better served being used by scientists to understand the mammoth’s history, being exhibited in museums or being left in their resting place in Siberia.

We do not feel that mammoth ivory deserves the negative press implied by its association to elephant ivory but are concerned that over time the differences would become less and elephant poaching would increase once more. Finally, Opulent Ethics feel that as there are numerous alternatives to ivory including vegetable ivory and synthetic materials there is no need to be using anything else.     

For the full article on Michelle Obama wearing mammoth ivory see the Guardian website and for more information on the mammoth ivory trade see the Independent website.



That's all for now....

It is estimated that there are around 150 million mammoth remains held in the ice under Russia’s Siberian permafrost. The pieces are buried between 1 metre and 1.5 kilometres under the ice and are exhumed by local residents before being sent to Moscow for sale. Most of the ivory is sent to China for carving before being sold in Hong Kong, Asia, Europe and the United States.

Currently 60 tonnes of ivory is being transported from Russia to China per year and with a worth of approximately $350,000 per tonne the mammoth ivory trade is flourishing. Currently, only Russian nationals are able to hunt for and export the mammoth ivory but as the market for extinct animal parts is increasing and is estimated at being worth £12.6 million per year then at some point outsiders are going to try and get in on the action.

Mammoth ivory items are not for sale in African countries as it is feared that the trade in illegal elephant ivory would increase in response to legal ivory being on sale. Wild elephant populations were decreased by up to 50% prior to the 1989 ban on African elephant poaching. Whilst there is not yet any difference in Asian or African elephant numbers there is growing concern from animal rights and conversation groups that this will change as mammoth ivory becomes more commonplace.  

On Monique Péan’s website she says that her aim is “…creating sustainable fine jewellery inspired by indigenous cultures that is socially and environmentally conscious”. As Péan’s pieces are hand made they take time to produce and are, therefore, unlikely to cause the mammoth ivory stocks to run low anytime soon. However, mammoth ivory is as sustainable as coal…not at all. Seen as the mammoth have been extinct for at least 4500 years there is no on-going replacement of the material that is being dug up and as demand increases the impact on the Siberian environment will worsen. As the shallower buried mammoth ivory pieces lessen those hunting will have to go deeper thus churning up Siberia’s tundra.

Péan’s two collections are born out of a want to do good for underprivileged communities but we here at Opulent Ethics are not convinced that Péan can call herself a sustainable fine jeweller. Yes Péan uses recycled gold and certified conflict free diamonds from Australia and donates a percentage of her profits to charities aimed at improving the lives of the communities which inspire her designs but other pieces use walrus ivory, caribou horn and whale baleen. These animal bi-products are not in the normal toolkit of someone who considers themselves sustainable.

We here at Opulent Ethics are surprised that Michelle Obama, who comes under so much public scrutiny and who influences public style, has chosen to wear an item whose connotations are so negative. Whilst Monique Péan represents herself as a do-gooder in the jewellery industry we would not consider wearing or using the risqué materials that Péan does and we are surprised that Michelle Obama has decided to endorse her products.     

In answer to whether mammoth ivory deserves the reputation of elephant ivory, Opulent Ethics believes that it would be preferable to use mammoth ivory instead of elephant, walrus or hippo ivory but as there are other alternatives we would always choose not to.

Vegetable ivory is a new up and coming material. It comes from the seeds of an Amazonian palm tree and really is a sustainable material. Leju is one company which produce vegetable ivory products using natural dyes on the Tagua or palm nut and natural materials within their designs. Whilst the seeds are not comparable in size to any type of animal ivory the colour and hardness of the material is similar making it perfect to work with. Vegetable ivory also sustains local economies where it is found and supplies a valid alternative to cutting down rainforests or hunting elephants.

Tagua or Palm Nut

What is ethical jewellery and can it ever be 100% ethical?

You may have heard people say that to be truly ethical would mean not producing or wearing jewellery. Jewellery has adorned the body for millennia indicating social status, wealth or for beauty and this is not about to change now. Here at Opulent Ethics we are of the opinion that jewellery is staying put and the best thing we can do is to change consumer opinion so that those who purchase jewellery begin questioning where their products come from.

To be 100% ethical is very difficult and may even be near impossible at this time so the best piece of advice we here at Opulent Ethics can give is to choose your battles wisely. With our jewellery we began by sourcing UK recycled silver from a responsible source, Cred, whilst trying to keep our carbon footprint as small as possible by using UK gem stones. By using Western sources for metals and gems stones you are able to ensure they are fairly mined.

The ethical jewellery produced by Opulent Ethics uses materials which are obtained from sources that impact as little as possible on the environment and local communities. Examples of our ethical choices include ensuring gems are not from countries where money from their sale funds war or conflict and silver is acquired from a company which recycles industry and left over jewellery silver. In the future, where Opulent Ethics decides to use gold this will be Fair Trade and acquired from family run small-scale mines which use alluvial mining techniques such as panning rather than large open pit mines which obtain their gold using chemical techniques. For information on the impact of mining see the No Dirty Gold website.

Sustainable materials such as wool, woods or seeds are another possibility. Opulent Ethics are hoping to be working with vegetable ivory this year and will keep you up to date on all we find out.

It has become evident recently that artisanal techniques such as filigree are making a comeback in jewellery. Craftsmanship is now very important in design and consumers want to see evidence of these hand skills in their purchases. This is a positive for ethical jewellers such as Leblas who have been trying to resurrect traditional Spanish filigree skills in recent years.

Leblas’ De Blas Tanzanite Ring

Leblas’ collections are produced by filigree artisans in Spanish workshops whose skills have been passed down through centuries of perfected craftsmanship. They also ensure that their pieces are produced using sustainable practices, using materials and running their business in a socially, environmentally and culturally responsible way.

Overall, ethical jewellery should be based on fair trade principles. By this we mean that all involved in the supply chain should be paid a fair wage and they and their environment should not be exploited. You can go as far as ensuring that chemicals used in your studio are less harmful and are disposed of responsibly.

Here at Opulent Ethics we have made our choices as to how we can be as ethical as possible within the limits of today’s jewellery trade. Sadly, these limits mean that it is currently not always possible for our jewellery to be 100% ethical but we are constantly working towards moving nearer to this goal and we hope that one day soon it will be possible. Because of this we feel that transparency is very important as we do not want to mislead our consumers. We are open and honest about all the materials and techniques we have used whilst producing and manufacturing our products and we hope that this gives possible consumers the confidence they need to believe in our products.

That’s all for now….