Sustainability

Written By Beth Morton

I recently completed an accreditation to become a Sustainable Impact Champion and am happy to say I passed! Working in a way that has as little an impact as possible is really close to my heart and I plan to weave this principle into the shop once it’s open.



Currently 100% of the mental I work with is recycled. I only buy stones on client request for bespoke commissions or I buy them second hand from metalsmithing and jeweller networks I am in online.



I try to design using what I have in the studio in an effort to minimise consumption and waste and scour car boot sales for second hand hammers and files for texturing and finishing jewellery.



Through the process of completing this accreditation I had a brilliant day at Prior Shop in Broadmead, an award winning low impact gift shop with responsible, good quality, contemporary design. Chatting with the owner Beck was encouraging and reassuring around the process of opening a shop with sustainable values but a clear design vision. Following this meeting I am pledging to do an annual audit of my business and all suppliers to make sure I’m questioning where I need answers and working in a way that keeps in line with my values.



Every 12 months I will audit the business using the following criteria and work against previous action points as well as highlighting new ones:



  • Infrastructure: Utilities, Building,Waste

  • Insurance Companies and Bank I work with - make sure their values are in line with my own and that I’m not investing in or contributing to unethical or environmentally ruinous industries.

  • Packaging and Postage

  • Suppliers

  • Resident Designers work processes

  • My Personal design and manufacture process

  • Workshop Processes

  • Events and Network

  • Marketing



I will show how they are as good as or better than the year before and I will show areas for improvement. I will explore and show:

  • We we were doing up until now.

  • What could be better

  • What we are doing about it

I will demonstrate this in each area and produce an annual report.




Thank you for reading and sharing this journey with me <3



Beth Morton
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