To clearly describe the ethical nature of each jewellery piece, Atelier Laibach uses the NOVA Key labelling system.

Each of the four letters which make up the NOVA Key is represented as follows:

These letters combined spell the word NOVA.

A letter in the NOVA Key can be crossed or uncrossed to instantly reflect the "ethical" composition of the product. This crossing gives you a clear, informed choice as to whether or not the product is suitable for you.

Laibach Jewellery NOVA Key Crossings

A product has to be 95% organic to allow the NOVA Key "O" to be left uncrossed.
There may occasionally be a Laibach piece where you see that the "O" for Organic has been crossed on the NOVA Key to show that it contains non-organic materials. For example, this might be on a jewellery piece which may consist of a high quantity of sea-glass. It is impossible to determine what chemical ingredients a sea-glass "stone" contains. I.e. colours from non-organic materials.
So if a large quantity of glass is used in a single piece we play safe and cross the "O" in case it is more than the acceptable threshold.

Minerals and metal ores are exempt from the NOVA Key. For example, ores such as gold and other pure precious metals do not apply to the "O" for organic in the NOVA Key as they are a natural earth deposit.

If a piece contains glue, we are not required to cross the "O" in this case, since a glue's non-organic ingredients will make up less than 5% of the overall product. As mentioned above, a product has to be 95% organic to allow the NOVA Key "O" to be left uncrossed. The glues we use are suitable for vegans.

The "A" for animal testing may need to be crossed on non-food products if it contains a chemical additive (such as glue) which has been tested on animals since 1985. The glue Laibach uses if necessary in jewellery fixings has never been tested on animals and is vegan friendly.
Precious metals and stones are mostly extracted from the earth to the detriment of natural animal habitat. The "A" may be underlined with a light green bar if metals used in a product are only from a recycled source and have not been freshly extracted from the ground. All our precious metals are from a strictly monitored recycled source. We gather our non-precious surface stones, such as pebbles and sea-glass by hand without negative impact to the environment or its ecosyatem. Any diamonds we include in our pieces are lab-created or reclaimed from old jewellery (subject to our 10 year threshold principle).

Some customers prefer the style of black rubber neck cord instead of metal chains on certain pendants and necklaces (as seen on a couple of our example pieces). Because of this, we offer the option of this robust material by customer request only.
However, the source of its ingredients have so far been impossible to fully determine:
a) Whether or not rubber neck cord contains any animal derivatives.
b) Whether or not the neck cord is made from recycled materials.
Some manufacturers or suppliers give tenuous or conflicting information about both these considerations, and since they are unable to provide straightforward answers, we do not apply the NOVA Key to rubber neck cord until we can guarantee its ethical make-up. At present, vegans may wish to avoid this material and we suggest you choose our hand-crafted chains instead.

The NOVA Key has currently determined that Lab-Created diamonds do not require crossings on the "A" or "N". Lab-grown diamonds using HPHT or CVD constitute identical elements to mined diamonds and therefore can be categorized as exempt from crossings (as in the case of precious metals). However, mined stones and precious metals (not recycled) may incur a red cross on the "A" if shown to have caused unrecoverable displacement and destruction of animal habitat.

For more information on The NOVA Key please visit the NOVA Key website at www.novakey.org.uk