There’s no doubt that fashion plays a huge part in culture by giving people a creative way to express themselves and what they hold dear—however, this often comes at a high cost. Every year, tons of resources go to waste to create accessories for unconscientious shoppers who know very little about the effort that went into creating their products and the resulting impacts had on the environment. Fortunately, over the recent decade, consumers are becoming increasingly supportive of making more sustainable choices when it comes to their purchases. This has become notably apparent in the fashion and, more specifically, the jewelry industry.
Our Top Picks
We’ve rounded up six sustainable jewelry brands in the Seattle area committed to providing high-quality, fashionable jewelry that is sourced and produced ethically. It’s not just about utilizing recycled metals or responsibly sourced gemstones. Their sustainability aims go far beyond that. These methods vary from assisting local communities where the materials are produced, giving full transparency and tracing while committing to zero-waste businesses to limit excess supplies from going to waste in landfills. We hope that by acknowledging how these six sustainable jewelry brands are operating toward a smaller environmental footprint, you’ll consider supporting these ethical brands in the future over other options that are less environmentally friendly.
WEND Jewelry
WEND Jewelry is a brand that designs modern heirloom handmade jewelry. They utilize sustainably made Eco-Gold and ethically sourced gems. WEND Jewelry collections infuse the expression and constructions of nature into gender-neutral jewelry to help accentuate your unique personality. The founder of WEND, Wendy Woldenberg, is a passionate jeweler who gains constant inspiration from the nature around her. Her observations serve as the basis for each collection resulting in unique, handmade jewelry that represent comfort, durability, and style. There is a loving human handprint in every piece of WEND Jewelry.
Astor + Orion
At Astor + Orion, it’s about much more than just looking beautiful. Their team strives to create jewelry with the purpose of bettering the planet, helping women, and encouraging deeper values within the jewelry industry. By combining recycled materials with ethical jewelry-making methods, this brand is taking huge steps to remove waste and pollution from their production process—something we wish more jewelry manufacturers would consider. The added benefit to using recycled materials in their designs is their ability to be reused again instead of creating waste that jeopardizes the preservation of mining communities across the globe.
Porpe Artifacts
Inspired by her Greek roots, Vicky Zomenou, the founder of Porpe Artifacts, crafts contemporary designs inspired by “porpes” which were used in Ancient Greece to connect clothing together, often displayed as a brooch or similar adornment on the shoulder. At Porpe Artifacts, Vicky designs pieces motivated by how these antiquated porpes enabled people to represent themselves and show off their individuality. Not only are her creations made from ethically sourced, recyclable materials, but every piece is made directly in her Seattle studio which is also a proud member of the Ethical Metalsmiths community.
Samantha Slater Studio
Samantha Slater is a South African-born artist and teacher. After she immigrated here in the early 2000s, she started to study jewelry-making, which quickly grew into a serious career opportunity for her after she realized her interest in the art went far beyond just a simple hobby. In 2018, she launched Samantha Slater Studio—a minimalist, geometric jewelry business focused on using ethically sourced materials. During her spare time, Samantha loves to come up with creative ways to recycle the leftover materials from her designs and also enjoys teaching jewelry-making classes so she can share her love for the art form with like-minded individuals.
Magpie Mouse Studios
Magpie Mouse Studios is an online-only jewelry shop run by Sarah Meranda, a multi-diverse artist based out of Seattle. Sarah is a qualified metal-smith who shares a fascination for crafting stunning jewelry creations from enamel. It’s through her designs that Sarah is able to blend her love of nature and cityscapes to fashion one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces distinctive of their unique vibrancy. She has occupied herself in the Seattle metals community and served on the board of the Seattle Metals Guild. This artist also has had the chance to work with many great teachers from the metals community and looks onward to addressing and encouraging other young artists. We can only wait and watch in awe to see what she does next.
Everling Jewelry
Everling was created from the word “Everlasting.” In May of 2014, Adrienne Krieger established Everling Jewelry with the intention of creating a space to share the magic of the jewelry-making process. In this sacred place, Adrienne hopes to pass on her knowledge of the trade to eager artists who are ready to unleash their ideas in a safe space and watch their concepts come to life in the form of hand-made, sustainable jewelry. Whether you’re looking to purchase one-of-a-kind jewelry or considering being more involved in the custom-design process, Everling is a great space for inspiration and imagination.
Learn More
To learn about other sustainable jewelry brands in the Seattle area, contact our team today at info@hanjijewelry.com. If you liked this article, we encourage you to browse other content on our site or reach out with any questions you might have. Thanks for reading!
