Fair Luxury at RCA
Maintaining the momentum of our pioneering conferences in 2016 and 2017, it was an honour to collaborate with London’s prestigious Royal College of Art for our third convention in 2018.
To learn more about our legacy - from the UK's first ethical jewellery conference to today, check out the long-read blog post.
Wednesday 11th July 2018
Unlike the last two conferences, which had brought together voices from both the jewellery and fashion worlds, this one centred exclusively on ethical sourcing within the jewellery industry. We’d done it!
It’s important to mention that Dr. Peter Oakley, Reader in Material Culture at the RCA, not only did a terrific job of convening the sold-out conference, but was key to its existence - sourcing the funding which enabled the event to run in the first place. That very same funding has since facilitated a variety of other Fair Luxury endeavours. Thank you, Peter.
Influential names
We heard from ARM representatives all the way from Colombia and France about the future plans for the Fairmined initiative; Director of Edinburgh’s Incorporation of Goldsmiths Mary Michel about the new Ethical Making Resource; and Founder and CEO of international consultancy Levin Sources, Estelle Levin-Nally, about business developments and imminent plans.
A variety of voices
Alongside these influential figures were professional jewellers, gemstone dealers and academic experts on artisanal and small-scale mining in the developing world.
Professor Gavin Hilson of the University of Surrey and DDI spoke to us about barriers to formalizing small-scale mining in Sub-Saharan Africa and Dax Lovegrove from Swarovski explored the roles of women in the jewellery supply chain, whilst Susi Smither (The Rock Hound), Naqiyah Sultan (Kashka), Tim Ingle (Ingle & Rhode), Peter Crump (VIPA Designs) and Arabel Lebrusan (Lebrusan Studio) formed an Ethical Makers’ Panel to discuss the ideals and practicalities of being a licensee jeweller.
“Over the past decade, the UK has been one of the leaders in advocating ethical sourcing in the jewellery trade. We owe a great deal to the committed campaigners who have helped get us so far. Fair Luxury at the RCA is an opportunity to celebrate those achievements, whilst acknowledging the challenges that still lie ahead and opportunities for a more ethical and sustainable future.”