Entry 01

This years Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference saw confirmation that the jewelry industry has been shooting itself in the foot with the practice of intentional opacity. “Protecting the jewelry industry”, a phrase commonly used behind closed doors after the blood diamonds campaign, no longer means hiding industry problems. It is antiquated to believe that glossing over issues of human rights and environmental damage is a path to manage and control reputational harm to the jewelry industry in the eyes of the public and jewelry consumers. The age of global communication, where a woman in a community who is experiencing human rights violence as a direct result of diamond mining, can call a woman jeweler in the US and talk to her at any time, is here and now. This revolution of communication brings awareness and problem solving to individuals and out of the hands of the corporate few.

Jewelry is rooted in the extractives industry which operates globally in some of the most vulnerable countries in the world as well as emerging economies. The modern way to protect the jewelry industry, is through addressing the human rights and environment issues in the jewelry supply chain while highlighting the initiatives that jewelers are implementing to solve the problems. The direct engagement of civil society with the jewelry industry, it’s consumers, and by giving civil society an ear to the global press is a path that allows freedom of information, awareness and the opportunity for change. The 6th annual Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference had international journalist from solely outside of the jewelry industry press, joining in virtually, were the larger fashion magazines such as Vogue and Vanity Fair, environmental journalists from Mongabay Bay and writers for major papers such as New York Times and Financial Times. The movement towards open communication with full transparency is the path to protecting the jewelry industry, a complex industry made up of individuals around the world who want to do better and want to connect to those who supply their precious gems, gold and diamonds to make it happen.

I closed with a quote from the Chicago artist Nick Cave, “I just want everything to be fabulous, I want it to be beautiful, even when the subject is hard. Honey, the question is, how do you want to exist in the world, and how are you going to do the work?”

The photograph shows the Virtu Gem Panel at the 2022 Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference. From left to right, Monica Gichuhi, Percy Maleta, Susan Wheeler, Pauline Mundia, Jessica Hudson, Adriano Mol, Andrea Hill