Pippa Small Celebrates Colombia with clean gold collection 'Together Forever'
Responsible jeweller Pippa Small has been looking to find a source of clean gold for many years. After reading an article in the Independent (a mind-blowing read), she was understandably shocked to learn that for a single gold band to be made, 30 tons of toxic waste is left behind. Bearing in mind that this is just the environmental impact of extracting and mining gold, the consequences for the local communities, as well as the long-term impact of these processes is yet to be understood.
A traveller since childhood, thanks to her mother, the trained anthropologist has been on a mission to celebrate and respect unique and diverse cultures, promote their traditional crafts and set a new standard for ethical jewellery practices; whether through her work in India, ethical sourcing work in Colombia and Bolivia, and to community efforts with Turquoise Mountain in Afghanistan, Myanmar and Jordan.
Recently, Pippa was introduced to a new (well old in tradition) ethically and environmentally clean gold source in the region of Choco, Colombia, which started her on the journey to create her new collection, Together Forever.
Pippa told me what struck her about this method of collecting gold:
“What’s beautiful about the Colombian gold extraction is that it's hand-panned. The women in Choco practice an ancient technique using a shallow wooden bowl, with which they collect gravel from the rivers, and swirled with a special wrist movement that allows the gold to separate from the river gravel, revealing particles of gold dust and gold nuggets. They are then separated and collected.
The women take a little bit at a time, which will mean their children and grandchildren will continue. To be able to use this river to provide a sort of supplement to their incomes, whether they're farmers or shopkeepers, is empowering to the women in the community. They go out, and without any chemicals, no cyanide, no mercury, no arsenic, with no machinery, no pollution, they can just simply, with this wooden tray, be able to source a bit of gold.”
The resulting collection, Together Forever, is named after a traditional chain of handmade woven links. The brand is also donating a premium over their cost of gold to a re-wilding project in Nariño, an area greatly damaged by mercury poisoning. The collection is available exclusively in store and on PippaSmall.com.
As someone who works at the crossroads between business and mindfulness, I couldn’t help but share this quote from one of Pippa’s master goldsmith, Tin Win, who explains in his own way the power of making things by hand, for those who do:
“Meditation is about clearing your mind of distractions. Craftsmanship is like a meditation; you must be free of distractions when you work, so you must control your actions with awareness and discipline. Craftsmanship needs so many things, such as composure, concentration, and thinking.”
I am proud and happy to be supporting Pippa Small and her team. If you’d like to find out more about the collection, you can read more about it (link: “What’s beautiful about the Colombian gold extraction is that it's hand-panned. The women in Choco practice an ancient technique using a shallow wooden bowl, with which they collect gravel from the rivers, and swirled with a special wrist movement that allows the gold to separate from the river gravel, revealing particles of gold dust and gold nuggets. They are then separated and collected. The women take a little bit at a time, which will mean their children and grandchildren will continue. To be able to use this river to provide a sort of supplement to their incomes, whether they're farmers or shopkeepers, is empowering to the women in the community. They go out, and without any chemicals, no cyanide, no mercury, no arsenic, with no machinery, no pollution, they can just simply, with this wooden tray, be able to source a bit of gold.”
The resulting collection, Together Forever, is named after a traditional chain of handmade woven links. The brand is also donating a premium over their cost of gold to a re-wilding project in Nariño, an area greatly damaged by mercury poisoning. The collection is available exclusively in store and on PippaSmall.com.
As someone who works at the crossroads between business and mindfulness, I couldn’t help but share this quote from one of Pippa’s master goldsmith, Tin Win, who explains in his own way the power of making things by hand, for those who do:
“Meditation is about clearing your mind of distractions. Craftsmanship is like a meditation; you must be free of distractions when you work, so you must control your actions with awareness and discipline. Craftsmanship needs so many things, such as composure, concentration, and thinking.”
I am proud and happy to be supporting Pippa Small and her team. If you’d like to find out more about the collection, you can read more about it on Forbes.com or watch a film to meet the makers here.