HOME... A UNIQUE ETHOS » LAIBACH PRINCIPLES AND ETHICAL PLEDGE

Laibach's Unique Principles of Luxury with a Clear Conscience.

Kerstin Laibach's ethical principles, which you will find in her pledge below, are always being fine-tuned to harmonise with the betterment of global conservation.
Laibach atelier takes a genuinely responsible approach to sustainability ... and with our carbon and environmental "inverted" targets we are truly dedicated to putting more back into nature than taking from it. For example, Kerstin harmlessly gathers a few local stones and makes every aspect of her jewellery pieces in her atelier with recycled materials and renewable energy. She then awards fifteen percent of her profits directly to conservation, wildlife protection and nature restoration projects in the UK and Europe and land-care eductional and re-training programmes in developing countries.
Kerstin uses only sustainable gold - this means carefully recycled gold and other recycled precious metals. She never uses environmentally disruptive new-mined gold and this also means she does not use Fairtrade / Fairmined gold either ... which is new-mined. (For more on this see here).
What is the difference between recycled gold and new-mined gold?

Laibach atelier's goal to "restore more than remove" may be unusual in the jewellery profession, but we also hope that all trades will find ways to adopt a similar approach ... not just marketing jargon, but sincere action. Being ecologically accountable for every aspect of a business, i.e. material resources and work practice, not only helps to minimize carbon and environmental footprints, but could essentially "back-step" them to help reverse the damage caused by the exploitation of our world.

A True Path to Genuine Ecologically Sustainable Ethical Jewellery.

Laibach atelier is fully aware that jewellery traditionally serves as an aid to personal desire and has little to do with the protection of our planet. But what we strive to do is retune aspirations of life's small luxuries; to consider compassion and conservation as a natural postscript to bespoke style. We want to show that elegance can evolve; created by Kerstin in a completely earth-friendly environment and worn by you ... with a truly clear conscience.

A Theme of Compassion and Conservation.

Kerstin Laibach's focus on compassion mainly refers to the unnecessary harvesting and killing of living beings to make jewellery ... For the sake of vanity there is simply no need for it.
Because Kerstin's jewellery is suitable for vegetarians and vegans, she doesn't use any derivatives from animals in her pieces; neither parts of the animals themselves like coral, or else pearls extracted from them. Neither does she use animal derivatives during the construction process.
Further reading about Kerstin Laibach's principles on a conservation / ecological theme progressively explains why she avoids new-mined precious metals, diamonds, other newly-extracted gems or any other form of commercial rock / crystal extraction for use in the jewellery industry.
To read more on this subject see below and also on Laibach's Ethical Information Menu Page.

The Principle of Genuine Hand Crafting.

If you appreciate a piece of music played entirely by a musician where raw skill and emotion produces natural nuance and character, then you may value truly individual goldsmith work as the hand-crafting equivalent of an inspiring performance.
With the jewellery industry awash with designers who are solely dependent on design software, factory-made jewellery parts, casting, plating, plastics and lasers, true heirloom quality professional goldsmith skills are becoming an unknown entity to the wider public ... with fewer genuine opportunities for them to see and feel the very distinct and refined difference.
Laibach's crafting principles strictly means: No jewellery design computer software and subsequent computer aided casting processes are ever used. Instead, inner-vision, "poetic" imagination and skilled hands create each unique piece.
An entirely handmade piece by Kerstin Laibach also means no casting ... no plating ... no pre-fabricated parts like factory chains, clasps and other closing clips.

An Ethical Pledge ... Kerstin Laibach Explains her Principles...

For your peace of mind it is important to know that from conception to the finished piece, the greenest possible path of creation has been taken. The prime ethics which underline my principles are laid out without blinding you with science:

* Laboratory-made diamonds are created either by HPHT (High Pressure High Temperature) or CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) These new technologies signify a breakthrough in growing "real" diamonds, which are comparable and can proportionally be considered "purer" than their mined counterparts; being of the same crystalline structure and optically "almost" identical. Kerstin Laibach never uses new-mined stones, but on rare occasions she may use their lab-created counterparts (usually on customer request only). There is a very small carbon footprint created during "growing", cutting and subsequent transportation of lab-created stones. Although this is a tiny percentage in comparison to the huge environmental damage caused by the extraction, processing and distribution of mined gems, we take any amount of environmental impact into consideration. Therefore, relative carbon offsetting is automatically included in the final cost of your lab-created diamond. Our Co2 offset contributions are distributed to environmental restoration projects.

** Our on-going research suggests that propane may in the long-term prove to be less polluting than micro-flame soldering systems, which use hazardous chemicals.

*** Ten Year and Millennium Threshold Principle. If you are interested in using the Laibach Redesign and Recycle service please read the Laibach principle concerning the reuse and reworking of used jewellery at Repair, Restoration, Redesign and Recycle, Reclaim.

**** Based on the global standard definition of veganism, no Laibach jewellery contains any animal-derivatives. However, we endeavour to create a work environment which goes a step further. To the very best of our knowledge and thorough research, our workshop tools used to construct our pieces do not contain any animal derivatives. After construction, polishing your piece might raise a moral issue for a small number of vegan customers. Although all our other polishing and buffing wheels are made of sisal or cotton - and we use specially obtained animal fat free polishing paste - there is an essential goldsmith's preparatory polishing wheel which contains felt. This specifically prepares the foundation for a traditional glass finish to larger areas of a completed gold or silver piece (i.e. ring interiors). There is no direct non-felt alternative industrially available for this process so instead we have made our own unique non-felt high-polishing wheel. Kerstin Laibach is able to cater for the exact ethical polishing needs of ultra-strict vegans avoiding the use of a felt buff. See more on our Vegan Information Page

***** Laibach pieces are never factory / resin cast. Since Kerstin Laibach hand-forges each individual piece just once, there is normally no reason, even for lost-wax casting, to make identical repeatable pieces. If for any reason Kerstin was to cast a piece of jewellery using the lost-wax method (possibly for experimental or creative reasons) she uses own-sourced reusable surface sand (not quarried) with organic plant oils and infinitely reusable non-animal based wax for experimental sculpturing. After repeated use the sand and wax can always be returned to the earth without any detriment to the environment. Therefore Kerstin does not use commercial resin products such as bio-resin either. Although such resin is sourced from plant materials, the hardener contains highly hazardous isocyanates. The effects of this irritant may be blocked when working with the resin, but the causative agent remains in the non-reusable material, subsequently becoming an environmental hazard upon disposal.
Very often, even with jewellery making, the best environmental solution can be to stick to a natural / traditional path with a few environmental tweaks instead of contrivances misleadingly marketed as a greener choice.
Environmentally friendly pickling solutions for treating and cleaning precious metals and are not something new. Such solutions, with citric acid and vinegar as their main ingredients, are recipes that have been traditionally used long before harsh chemical alternatives appeared. With experienced handling, far better results can anyway be achieved with naturally eco-friendly recipies than the commercially available harsh chemical alternatives.
Note for jewellery students: You should however always refer to your local waste collection authority when disposing of any spent pickle solutions containing heavy metal residue.

MORE INFORMATION ...

To read more about Kerstin Laibach's ethics see the Ethical Information Menu Page.

Defining Laibach's "Real" Slow / Holistic Jewellery Ethic
Quantifying green ethics of the jewellery trade
Precious metals and our environmental ethics
Atelier Laibach's commitment to wildlife and the environment
Information about Laibach precious metals, your choices and pricing

MORE INFORMATION FROM OUR REPAIR AND RESTORE PAGES ...

Repair and Restore - Extending a Respect for what our Planet has Provided in the Past