|
About
Kerstin Laibach
I've been most fortunate
to grow up in a beautiful part of the world that is renowned for
hand-crafted jewellery of exceptional quality. Rising east from
the French / German Rhine valley are the higher mountains of the
Black Forest, sweeping south towards the Swiss Alps, and it's
here, between Pforzheim and Basel, Switzerland that I learnt my
trade as a goldsmith to the most exacting standards.
I began with a three and a half year apprenticeship near Basel,
followed by some years as a designer and restorer in Freiburg,
Germany where I fine-tuned my skills creating bespoke pieces,
while also restoring antique jewellery.
By 2008 my growing
concern about environmental issues began to illuminate a sense
of distrust about aspects of the jewellery industry. The lack
of moral responsibility within its practices, combined with ethical
pretence on the surface, weighed on my conscience.
I decided then that the
responsible way forward was to go it alone; offering goldsmith
standard, bespoke pieces - but made with faithfully laid out environmental
principles.
As a purely ethical goldsmith I was happy to know that I could
answer customer questions with clear honesty instead of abstract
answers.
During the preparation
time in setting up Atelier Laibach, we trod carefully through
lists of suppliers and services I would need for the business,
seeking out the tiny handful of genuinely ethical businesses
and organisations that we might rely on for truly recycled / earth
and animal friendly materials and carbon neutral services. We
also established what effective wildlife and conservation organisations
we should donate a percentage of our sales to.
In March 2009 the business
was launched with immense moral support from my dear partner.
It is impossible to please everyone, but we do take pride in aiming
to explain everything that the customer wishes to know about our
ecological approach.
I strive to ensure that my work meets the ethical wishes of even
the most meticulous vegan or environmentally astute customer.
Of course, this means that Atelier Laibach pieces can be enjoyed
by everybody of all dietary or ethical persuasions.
Beside the positive
environmental approach to making pieces with surface gathered
stones I find myself automatically gravitating towards pebbles
shaped over time by nature and which humans have not manipulated.
The form of an uncut, unpolished stone is like a "memory chip";
the imprint of the earths' natural motion over millions of years.
This must be why pebbles can feel so natural in your hands and
why they give such a "feel-good" sense when I have set them into
jewellery without adversely changing their structure. To be able
to wear and therefore connect with an ancient and elementary fragment
of our world is a rare thing in an age when everything else around
us is engineered by humans.
My principles are purely
inspired by the ethical philosophy of www.Looking-Glass.co.uk
and its sister site www.veggieglobal.com and I am proud to be
associated with this respected non-profit web resource. Looking-Glass
have researched extensively to determine ecological factuality
within the jewellery trade and to establish a more truthful perspective
of what can be termed as ethical jewellery.
I sincerely hope that
you will find the result of our efforts worthwhile, and I look
forward to receiving your custom in the very near future.
Kerstin Laibach
MORE
INFORMATION ...
Atelier Laibach Principles - A Slow, Holistic Approach
The
Collections
Home ...
A Unique Ethos
|
