When sustainable fashion is brought up as a topic, it’s not usually the jewellery which will make you consider how sustainable it is. However with mining being such a polluting commercial activity, it pays for a company to research better ways of producing beautiful things for us to wear. Barocco, a company based in England, does just this. We’ve examined how their business and their products focus on a more ethical and sustainable way of producing beautiful jewellery for their customers.
Barocco focuses on the lack of sustainability in jewellery production, and on the damage that it causes to the environment. The pieces are produced in local foundries in England, and are made from recycled valuable metals such as bronze, silver, and gold. Their production process is lost wax casting, which involves creating the model of the jewellery in wax, which is then coated in plaster or clay. This clay then has the molten metal poured into it, melting the wax, and creating a perfect copy. This is less resource-intensive than industrial casting. The natural aesthetic of the Barocco jewellery even extends to the subject matter – some of their jewellery is cast from natural items such as bones, nuts, or even fruit.
They also aim to support ethical labour – they use local foundries and pay local living wages, fairly supporting their producers. They refuse to use low-quality production and also make sure that all of their business model supports this ethical business. With a mining and jewellery-making being a historically dubiously-ethical business model, it helps for a company to do their best to counteract this. Being sure that your jewellery doesn’t contain, for example, blood diamonds, also means that you are reassured that your jewellery choices are safe and sustainable. This is a major concern for many people, so it’s worth taking into account.
