Materials

I would rather tell you exactly what I use and where it comes from than make a broad claim about sustainability. Here is what is true in my studio.

Gold

About 90 percent of the gold I work with is recycled, refined from old jewelry. Gold does not degrade, so there is no reason to pull new metal out of the ground when what already exists can be melted and used again. It costs nothing in quality, and it is the right way to work.

I work in 18K and 14K. Every piece is hallmarked to the Israeli standard for precious metals.

Pearls

My pearls are cultured, from both seawater and freshwater shells. I choose each one myself rather than buying matched lots, and I judge them the way you would judge any gemstone: type, size, colour, shape, lustre, surface, and the thickness of the nacre.

The ones I want are usually the ones a larger workshop would set aside. A baroque pearl is not a failed round pearl. It is a shape that happened once and will not happen again, and my job is to build the gold around it rather than correct it.

Diamonds

I work with both natural and laboratory-grown diamonds. Every natural diamond I buy comes through the Kimberley Process from suppliers I have worked with for years.

I also use rough diamonds, uncut and unpolished. Most of the trade treats a rough stone as raw