Socially Responsible Wedding Rings




(Helen Chantler and Marc Choyt, co-owners of Reflective Images, in their Santa Fe, New Mexico store.)



After companies extract massive amounts of resources, what remains after salaries, operating expenses and shareholder's dividends, is offered back to communities as "corporate social responsibility," which is then integrated into a public relations campaign. Though social responsibility in the jewelry sector is a good thing, it does not come close to compensating for the inequitable relationships between businesses and producer communities.

In our production of socially responsible wedding rings, we are artisan focused and we support artisan production, from the gemstone miner to the jewelers who create the designs on this site, Internationally, we seek to work directly with the small scale miners whenever possible. We are pioneers in fair trade jewelry. By offering artisans fair compensation and fair trade gem projects that are ecologically responsible, we hope to some day make "handouts" by NGOs less necessary.

Giving Back

But striving to work with the artisanal communities in itself is not enough. If it is to become socially unacceptable for anyone to purchase jewelry that is not ethically sourced, we need market pressure. When people begin asking sales people in a jewelry store for eco friendly jewelry made with recycled precious metal and fair trade gemstones, the way business is done in the jewelry sector will rapidly change.

The issue is education! Few would want to wear a wedding ring with gold that created tons of toxic sludge, but people purchase such rings every day. Not only have we published two free ebooks, one for consumers and one for the trade, on ethical jewelry issues, but we are the publishers of fairjewelry.org, the top rated site on Google for a "fair trade jewelry" search. Fairjewelry.org is the most comprehensive consumer and trade educational resource on all ethical jewelry issues. Our great effort towards fair trade jewelry education and advocacy on behalf the artisan producer is the focus of our giving back.

(Marc Choyt, Co-owner & publisher of FairJewelry.Org)
Fairjewelry.org is widely read by by people in over 130 countries every month, including leaders and press in the jewelry sector and it is an acknowledged "industry watchdog" by consumer publications. The fair trade jewelry blog supports ethical jewelry initiatives and advocates for impoverished producers, where fair trade is needed most. Marc also works as a freelance journalist, and has even helped to launch a publicity movement on behalf of small Inuit miners, putting their struggles into the public domain.

In the production of their own socially responsible wedding rings, Reflective Images,parent company of Artisan Wedding Rings, believes that artisan support starts in their own shop. Employees receive three weeks paid vacation, paid sick leave and several paid holidays. The company covers 50% of health insurance. The company gives year end bonuses - typically over 5% of yearly wages. Employees, after a year, get 6% of salary given to their own retirement account. No employee match is required. Employees also receive a "wellness" benefit, where the company matches up to $75 dollars a month that employees can use for anything from working out at the gym, to yoga, to meditation retreats.

The entry wage is $14 an hour. All employees work on flex-time, which allows them to deal with family matters as they come up. Five of employees have bought houses in Santa Fe, a very expensive real estate market, while working for the company. The shop is racially diverse. Three countries of origin are represented: Chile, England the US. The owners of the company, who have both traveled extensively around the world, view different nationalities and cultural backgrounds as a great strength for their organization.

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Finally, we donate jewelry and money to several nonprofit organizations that are doing excellent work in our local community of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ranging from Wild Earth Guardians, to Hamaatsa.





Circle-based Business

Reflective Images is a practical experiment in running a circle based business; "A circle based business is rooted in relationships that are nurtured by fair and equitable exchange. Every person inside and outside of the business viewed as equal in their humanity."

This paradigm becomes the basis for testing business decisions, ranging from how personnel are compensated to which suppliers are worked with. The goal is to create a life giving well of profit through a circle of mutually beneficial relationships that support our economy, ecology and community. Our business philosophy is behind our strong support for fair trade practices.

The concept was developed by the owners of the company, Marc Choyt and Helen Chantler. At present, Marc is writing a book entitled The Circle Manifesto which explains in detail the challenges and rewards of implementing circle based business practices. Read and comment on these ideas on Marc's blog, www.circlemanifesto.com.

Awards and Recognition

  • 2008: Winner of the City of Santa Fe's Outstanding Business with five to twenty employees, for community contributions, vision and employment practices.

  • 2005, 2006, 2008: Superior Supplier, OC Tanner Corp. OC Tanner is the leading Premium and Recognition company in the world. They have over 300 vendors and name just three as superior suppliers. Reflective Images is OC Tanner's only supplier that has less than twenty employees.

  • 2006: Finalist For Outstanding Community Business. The Mayor and City Counsel of Santa Fe recognized Reflective Images in June, 2006 as one of Santa Fe's top five businesses, based on charitable contributions, job creation, diversity in the work place, wages, benefit package and visionary business practices.


 
 
 

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