#MeatFreeWeek – Meet the firm making ‘vegan’ jewellery
Today the hashtag #MeatFreeWeek is trending on Twitter, prompting Jewellery Focus to seek out jewellery companies that align themselves with a vegan and/or vegetarian philosophy.
Initially sceptical that there would exist such a company, we were pleasantly surprised to discover German goldsmith Kerstin Laibach, which produces jewellery according to a stringent checklist which it calls the Laibach Principles.
According to the website: “Kerstin Laibach makes every last detail of her jewellery. Because nothing is factory cast or contains [findings], all aspects of a Laibach piece can be ‘ethically’ accounted for; how it was made, what it was made with and exactly what it contains, from start to finish.
“There are many aspects of jewellery making which involve animal slaughter … some obvious and others far less so.”
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Checklist
(This Laibach Principles checklist is governed by VeggieGlobal.com. Jewellery Focus has reproduced the following directly from the Kerstin Laibach website.)
First … some of the obvious animal parts Kerstin Laibach atelier does not use are:
- Pearl
- Coral
- Leather
- Snake
- Lizard
- Elephant Hair
- Ivory
- Feathers
- Horn
- Bone
- Porcupine Quill
- Shell
- Any other product derived from animals
The Kerstin Laibach atelier also does not use these less realised habitat destroying/damaging ingredients and animal-derived ingredients, tools and processes:
- No newly-mined gold, silver, platinum, paladium, precious or semi-precious gems or any other newly extracted metal or stone which destroys ecosystems and habitat including commercialy harvested amber.
- No cuttlefish (Cuttlebone casting is commonly used to create patterns in jewellery making).
No ebony or any other woods from endangered forests. - No shellac.
- No leather, felt* and hair/fur based tools. (Laibach has replaced these with own-made non-leather / non-felt alternatives.)
- No egg (for patina effects)
- No animal fat polishing paste. (VeggieGlobal specially sourced an alternative polishing paste without animal derivatives. Laibach atelier is the first goldsmith workshop to use this … Some other vegan-based jewellery makers are now beginning to follow this principle)
- No crafting plastics (neither new or recycled) (i.e. microplastic material which damages ocean-life and animals dependent on it)
- No commercial modelling clays which include PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Such manufactured clays leach plasticizers and their constituent chemicals, which upon disposal pollute land and marine environments (ingested by various species) and thus are not safely biodegradable. PVC within such clays is not industrially recovered for recycling.
- No bioresin. Although the resin itself is sourced from plant materials, the hardener contains highly hazardous isocyanates. The effects of this irritant may be blocked when working with the resin, but the causative agent remains in the non-reusable material, subsequently becoming an environmental hazard upon disposal.*
- No type of product which is animal tested, or product containing hazardous chemicals which can damage the environment.
Vegan / Vegetarian … The Passion Behind All Laibach Pieces
Although being purely vegan, there is absolutely no compromise in design, elegance, durability or longevity throughout Kerstin Laibach’s entire portfolio of handmade jewellery pieces. Crafting with a clear moral purpose, and with the planet’s wildlife at the forefront of her creative impetus, Kerstin’s environmentally-tuned innovations reach beyond the predictable boundaries of jewellery-craft. The result is a holistically hand-forged heirloom for you or your loved one to cherish forever and which can be worn always with a clear conscience.
