This last year-and-a-bit has seen us launch some beautiful new designs, create pieces to honour and celebrate big milestones in your lives, welcome a new team member and really turn our Old Biscuit Mill Studio into our dream creative space. But, all of this has been in the midst of some potentially business-ending uncertainty and since I haven’t really known what to say (or on many days even how to process it) I ended up saying nothing at all.
In 2015 we made a simple gold band exclusively from gold recycled from e-waste, the first jewellery of its kind in the world. We have produced thousands of recycled e-waste gold and silver pieces since then, honing both our craft and our recycling process. But now, it is time to close this chapter.
Our e-waste recycling operation has been growing increasingly more challenging since the pandemic but by mid-2023 the cracks had really begun to show. We have fought tooth and nail to keep our e-waste recycling not only operational but also aligned with who we want to be as people and as a company. After much soul searching it has become clear that the e-waste space is no longer where we can make our most meaningful contribution to the world (you can read more about this here). It was time to seek out new challenges. Now please don’t misunderstand me, this is by no means the end of AuTerra. We aren’t going anywhere, we will still be here crafting tirelessly to bring you minimalist, timeless and most importantly sustainable jewellery.
Being unprepared to compromise on the sustainability of our jewellery the options were to find a meaningful pivot or to close. At first the latter seemed like the most likely outcome but sometimes the best and most exciting opportunities are found in the darkest of hours. I am absolutely thrilled to announce that we are the first Fairmined Licensed Brand in Africa!
Fairmined- a celebration of people and planet
Perhaps you have heard of Fairtrade coffee or chocolate? A certification that ensures ethical sourcing, motivated by a desire to pay a fair price to the primary producers, people too often subjected to harsh conditions and even harsher wages, and protect the environment at the same time. Well, there is a similar certification for gold and silver.
Fairmined, like Fairtrade, focuses on uplifting gold mining communities and protecting the delicate ecosystems that these artisanal mines, often in remote, unspoilt locations, are built on.
You can read more about Fairmined on our Sustainability page here. It is a topic I am deeply passionate about and whose many facets I will delve into over time. We are overjoyed, awed and slightly intimated by what it means to be the first custodians of Fairmined gold and silver on this beautiful continent of ours. So, here’s to the next phase of AuTerra, in all it's messy, challenging and oh so glorious complexity.
