Ethical Jewelry

According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent Toxic Release Inventory from 2006, says that metal mining is the worst polluting industry in the United States of all waste disposals. I argue then how can we make “green jewelry” not just an idea but also a practice. Luckily enough, once extracted precious gems and metals are never discarded and do not fall under disposable consumerism or planned obsolescence. As dirty the jewelry industry may be, its value endures within our social standards.

 

As a maker, I have found myself questioning and trying to understand the controversy behind my practice not only as an independent artist but also within the RISD facilities.

To really understand how green my practice is I have to first recognize how transparent the company I get my sources from is. Do they mine their copper or has it been recycled? This will allow me to take an environmentally conscious choice of material sourcing. I also question the ethical labor production of my materials. Was it a Fair Trade? Who has mined them, for how much? What environmental circumstance have the workers been exposed to? What is the manufacture’s energy consumption and environmental impact to their practice?  What about packaging, transportation, waste disposal?

 

The ethical use of labor has started since the Industrial Revolution but only recently has their been concerns for ethical jewelry production. Ethical material sources have introduced a distinction between two types of extractions: primary and secondary refining. The primary extraction is the mechanical and chemical extraction of metals directly from natural resources. Now because of the Hardrock Mining Reform in 2007, the extraction of metals must abide to environmental regulations.

 

Secondary refining, sources metal from previously refined products. Pawnshops and jewelers might send jewelry to be subsequently processed. This process does not apply for metal consumption only but also for other materials that might be used in the jewelry industry such as electronics, plastics, and fibers.  This lowers the demand, extraction and processing of new materials.

 

However the problem lies on where one can buy this ethical produced metal? Unfortunately, there are not many eco-conscious manufactures where jewelers can buy refined metal or industries that will buy your waste if you are not working with an industry. The whole idea of jewelers using refined metal becomes unapproachable because of the indifference and disconnect these companies have. 

 

As another jeweler, Gabriel Craig mentions, “We must all begin the arduous task of rethinking jewelry, at least in terms of sustainability beyond our own lifetime”. This makes me realize we need to be intelligent in the way we use materials and not just create waste for waste but waste for food. One must question and understand every step a product undergoes. 

Rethinking My Process: A New Composite Material

During my graduate time at RISD, I have found myself making my own material without realizing I was creating a composite material by fusing metal into fabric. I have been fascinated by this idea quite a bit, as I understood the method of electroforming.

Electroplating is the process of creating a metal coating over an object by controlling the electro-deposit of metal passing through an electric solution. A metal layer is built up on a metal surface, or on any surface that has been given an electro-conductive coating by the application of a paint that contains metal particles.

RISD’s Jewelery and Metals department has a small room with several liquid copper baths for students to experiment and make jewelry with. However, what can place inside a bath is strictly monitored. Only synthetic materials can be plated such as some plastics, glass, and wax. The use of organic substrates, will contaminated and unbalances the chemistry of the bath resulting of abnormal surface plating.  

Through rigorous experimentation and learning I started by wrapping nylon around wire forms and let the copper grow through he fabric. As I discovered I could use this method to fuse the fabric with the metal in a natural way as opposed to gluing the two together.  This process allowed me to further investigate how I could further fuse metal with fabric without having to use wire. Instead I added conductive paint to the fabric, which I subsequently plated.

A new material was formed enhancing the properties of the fabric that otherwise on its own could not have. I was able to give structure to the fabric by bending and shaping it around the metal construction. Because I was using fabric, this allowed to make large but light jewelry still being three-dimensional. This new composite material made me question how the integration of metal and fabric could change or impact the way we see jewelry and apparel. Further Interest grew on how I could use this to create jewelry. Or was it jewelry that I was trying to do?

            Inspired by the technical aspect of this process and knowing more about composite materials, I have questioned the life cycle of this medium.  Can I reuse the raw materials that I had once used? How bad is my process for the environment? How is RISD being responsible about this technology?  It made me happy to find out that I could refine the copper even though many industries do not process alloyed metals. As for the fabric goes, It is a poly organza material tha

The Way We Make

Inherently or not, an artist’s work is shaped by the nature of its medium. Trying to push away perhaps by its conventionality, the materiality used by students and their designs in mind converge.  Many are driven by the qualities of either natural or synthetic materials, which can also dictate a student’s working process. This however can be convenient and can offer a sense of direction to a maker. At the same time some materials can limit our desire to express an idea. Some materials do not perform of have certain qualities that one might be looking for changing the end result or a design.

It is interesting to see how every department, it be the furniture, architecture or industrial design, has a different dialogue with the materials and resources they gather and use. For the furniture department it seems important to use recycled material to built upon from but still using “new or raw materials” to create a hybrid between the two. It seems like the process of experimentation and creating furniture made out of composite materials is common.  However, I find interesting student’s concern to use recycled materials to make furniture but contradictive the amount of waste that can be produced by making for instance a chair.

In the architecture department, it seems like students take the time to fully understand their material selection. They test their materials to make sure they respond to what they are looking for while still being interested in it.  This dialogue between the artist and their medium allows them to negotiate the boundaries between the material and their ideas.

Forcing students to use specific materials like corrugated cardboard, plaster, or wood is a good learning experience to understand the behavior of such. Hundreds of models and prototypes are made with affordable materials for students to development their ideas. It is something I find in common with many departments where exploration is encouraged and the endless amount of idea production is reinforced. The process can very wasteful, even more so if the materials used are being converged with others that are hard to take apart if those were to be recycled.

It doesn’t seen that much after thought has been given to the way ideas are being developed in relation to our material consumption and exploration. It’s hard to find a balance between making biodegradable resources, using little energy or not polluting in the process and designing an efficient product. Because more thought and awareness is being addressed to these concerns at RISD, it might affect the way we make and question the consequences composite materials can have to its environment.

It is good to hear that the department of industrial design is trying consolidate years of inefficient material production and packaging design since the industrial revolution to a more efficient and recyclable end product.  Bringing to use more eco-friendly materials into our design might inspire other departments to act and react to these issues that are affecting the way we live and make.    

Textiles Department

As I explored the studio’s facilities I was mesmerized by the diverse and quantity of mechanical and electronic machinery used to create textiles.  These varied from a selection of handlooms, computer interfaced looms, and electronic jacquard loom, to knitting machines, industrial knitting machine, digital textile printer and an embroidery machine. They had a combination of the most innovative tools as the most primitive ways of spinning yarn.  The department focused not only on the design process but the structure and fabrication of materials to and techniques creating one a kind fabric to industrial production. 

      

The looms ranged from simple knotting techniques to larger jacquard looms. Students were starting with this basic cross looping motion of the yarn from the vast selection of synthetic and natural fibers.  These yarns differed in textures from crippled to smooth, colors, elasticity and strength among other qualities.  Most of these synthetic and organic fibers were donated to the facilities and seemed to become brittle and their colors were fading. 

The importance of having total control in the process and material formation of textiles seems inherent to the nature of the medium.  The process of making textiles involves as much physical process as chemical. Their fully equipped dye lab had the option of chemically bonding color with organic materials as well as synthetic polymer fibers. They used a combination of urea, salt and soda ash diluted in hot distilled water.  For pigment to set on the fabric without fading, it was then placed in a vapor machine for several hours, rinsed and then left to dry.

I found many measuring instruments in the dye lab addressing the importance of having exact measurements of the chemicals mixed. Because it is so heard to recreate the exact color twice, yardage of fabric was done simultaneously.  Many color swatches with different times and quality fibers were available for student’s used. I also saw many inspiration boards with a diverse hue of colors use as reference for their color combination and pallets. 

The more advanced students use the Industrial Knitting Machine. This machine seemed very complex and complicated.  It hand an numerous amount of threads coming from different directions constantly moving back and forth in a repetitive notion.  Many samples of knitted fabric draped in rows on hangers from the same machine but ordered through a company.  They all differed in pattern, colors, textures, and feel. Some were more still and rigid while other where very elastic and flexible. Other seemed to have innovative synthetic fibers that reflected. The textile was closely knit while others were knit further apart giving a sense of transparency. 

After walking for a while I finally saw a students piece draping on a model. It seemed like it was made by some organic wool fiber. I was not sure if the yarn was hand dyed or industrially dyed. This outfit had a combination of different threads probably industrially knitted. Stitches hold together these different areas of fabric.  It seemed like it was a heavy material for it had a draping quality to it.   The knit created an elastic feel allowing the fabric to contour to the surface of the body.