By Karen Dybis

Fine jewelry is certainly synonymous with glamour. But traditional jewelry manufacturing has a dirty environmental history, marked by its widespread use of toxic chemicals.

Fortunately, the industry is actively reckoning with its eco-unfriendliness. Large and influential companies including diamond producer De Beers have been pouring millions into efforts designed to make jewelry a more sustainable business. 

And a handful of small jewelry brands have made sustainability their priority by building carbon-neutral workshops. These standalone ateliers (two of which, described below, are in standalone buildings) are not only state-of-the-art. They’re also blueprints for young and future jewelers looking to fabricate jewelry without marring the environment. 

Chris Ploof 

Bicyclist-turned-jeweler Chris Ploof powers his central Massachusetts atelier with a 37,000-watt array of solar panels, producing 135% of the studio’s electrical energy needs. So the sun powers his lights, tools, and big equipment—all the things he and his team need to create his award-winning jewelry, which he crafts in tough, offbeat materials including meteorite and Damascus steel. 

Ploof says he recouped his solar investment in less than six years, but his decision to go solar was about more than money. Ploof is an environmentalist; he drives an electric car, disposes of trash he sees while hiking, and even changed the kind of packaging tape he uses to ensure his customers can recycle everything he sends with a purchase. 

“We all have to do what we can do,” he says. “There are people who will say climate change is cyclical. I don’t want to chance it. I want to leave the planet better. It’s another exercise in making yourself better.”

Pyrrha

The climate-first efforts of Vancouver, British Columbia–based jewelry brand Pyrrha have been equally impactful. In 2021, brand founders and owners Wade and Danielle Papin designed a zero-carbon studio: a two-building campus that’s a testament to their belief in being a force for good through jewelry.

“We didn’t just want to keep our production local,” Wade says. “We wanted to truly change the game and sought out alternatives to the conventional, largely toxic, methods of jewelry making.”

The brand was founded in 2009 inside a home that was more than 100 years old. The couple actively preserved the building while making it energy-efficient. To handle its expanding business, Pyrrha built an adjacent production tower that includes the studio, using low-carbon building materials and renewable energy (via photochromic windows and a geo-exchange heating and cooling system). The compound was awarded the Canada Green Building Council’s Zero Carbon certification. 

Pyrrha also is a member of the Responsible Jewellery Council and 1% for the Planet, a global network of businesses and environmental organizations. Positive Luxury awarded the Butterfly Markto the firm for its sustainability achievements and, even more impressive, Pyrrha is a certified B Corp, one of only 18 jewelry manufacturers in the world who have been vetted by the nonprofit B Lab for outstanding social and environmental performance, transparency and legal accountability.

The Papins are so invested in their efforts that they carefully measure their carbon footprint on all fronts—from the energy used in their facilities, to the airplane flights they take to trade shows, to the shipping of their sustainable jewelry. The company’s paper products are handmade in Canada, and its gift and shipping boxes are made from recycled or FSC certified paper. 

“We’re proud of these achievements because they reflect our commitment to our core values,” Wade Papin says. “It’s of paramount importance to us to produce our jewelry in-house in a clean and sustainable environment that we can feel good about coming into each day.”