Defining The Future
The jewellery and gemstone sector is traditionally technology-adverse, but these three individuals have taken bold steps to go where others fear to tread.
WHAT IF YOU could take all carbon emissions from the sky and use technology to lock it away? That query led environmentalist Dale Vince on a quest seven years ago, culminating in Skydiamond, the world’s first diamonds manufactured from atmospheric carbon. A self-confessed eco-warrior, Vince’s green crusade includes launching Ecotricity in 1996, the world’s first green energy company. His work has received global recognition from organisations such as the United Nations, which appointed him Climate Champion, and an OBE award from the Queen.
Despite their minimal impact on the environment, one consistent criticism against man-made diamonds has been their high carbon footprint. In 2011, professor Saleem Ali (University of Delaware) used industry examples to show that production of synthetic diamonds consumes 274 per cent more energy per carat than mined natural diamonds.
But Skydiamond in comparison claims to use 100 per cent renewable energy from the wind, sun and captured rainwater to produce, via its patented process, diamonds that are optically identical to Earth-mined stones.
Per industry sources, around 139 million carats of natural diamonds were produced in 2019. Courtesy of lower production costs, supply of lab-grown diamonds for jewellery has significantly increased, resulting in a 30 per cent drop per annum in their average price. So where does that leave Skydiamond? Will it replace the current dominant players? Will Skydiamond solve our pollution problems?
Not in the foreseeable future. The carbon extracted to create a Skydiamond is modest and the firm plans to cut its stones in Antwerp to create exclusive Skydiamond cuts bearing a laser-etched watermark and sell limited quantities. However, since natural reserves are finite and technology can accelerate scale beyond our estimation, the possibilities are endless.
Another newcomer making waves is Sean Gilbertson of Gemfields. A mining engineer by training, Gilbertson entered the coloured gemstones arena in 2008 when he joined the Gemfields board. He had earned his stripes working in South Africa’s gold and platinum mines, financing public and private partnerships for Deutsche Bank, and co-founded a coal trading platform called globalCoal.
Skydiamond claims to use 100 per cent renewable energy from the wind, sun and captured rainwater to produce, via its patented process, diamonds that are optically identical
to Earth-mined stones.
In 2008, the coloured gem sector was fragmented, operating at a small-scale, unregulated, delivering unreliable supply. Gilbertson was closely involved in the acquisition and redevelopment of the company’s first venture: the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia, a model replicated for its ruby mine in Mozambique. “Our work in the last 14 years with Gemfields,” he explains, “has shown that increased scale, responsible mining and a transparent auction system can deliver a consistent supply of precious gems, vital to the sector’s future growth.”
Both mines today are the largest in the world, delivering some 60 per cent of mined rubies and 35 per cent of emeralds worldwide. As a pioneer of responsible gemstone mining, Gemfields has institutionalised the grading and auction of rough emeralds and rubies, inviting government officials from host nations to attend and supervise the entire process and publish all data. In 2015, Gemfields was the first to promote embedding nanoparticles (with technology by Gübelin) in its rough emeralds, supported by blockchain, pioneering foolproof mine-to-market traceability.
In 2015, Gemfields was the first to promote embedding nanoparticles
(with technology by Gübelin) in its rough emeralds, supported by blockchain, pioneering fool-proof
mine-to-market traceability.
For more than a decade, Gemfields has implemented industry-leading policies and practices across mining operations and played an active role in working groups to modernise the sector. The company has created projects to improve health, education and livelihoods for the communities around its mines and supported conservation efforts to protect Africa’s wildlife and biodiversity.
“We believe a country’s gem deposits don’t belong to mining companies or artisanal miners,” Gilbertson explains. “The real owners are the citizens of the host nation. Licensed miners are mere custodians of the deposit and should strive to get the best possible price, repatriate the full proceeds transparently, and ensure maximum revenue stays in-country to benefit the citizens. We have to be responsible at the source and to the source.”
As such, Gemfields recently launched The G-Factor for Natural Resources, an indicator of natural resource wealth paid to a host country’s government. The coloured gem sector remains opaque, often seeking to supress revenue – and therefore taxation – inside the host country.
Through this announcement and by publishing its
own five-year revenue contributions, Gemfields is inviting other mining entities and organisations to collaborate in further increasing transparency in the sector.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the supply chain, a jewellery designer is tapping into the futuristic world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for her latest collection. In the summer of 2019, Simone Faurschou left the security of being the design head of a jewellery firm to satisfy her creative and entrepreneurial interest. Six days before lockdown in 2020, she started her business, but the jewellery commissions she’d been banking on disappeared during the pandemic.
A jewellery design graduate from Central Saint Martins, London, she used a sheet of gold and tools to design and handcraft her first jewellery collection. It was a series of gold fragment pendants forming the supercontinent, Pangaea. “From the outset, I wished to use jewellery to connect individuals,” Faurschou explains. “It’s what drew me towards blockchain. We have a contradictory relationship with technology, but it saves us by enabling links when we can’t travel.”
Faurschou’s fascination with blockchain, NFTs and crypto lies at the heart of her latest project: an assemblage of 12 digital artworks paying tribute to blockchain. Each comes with an original block of sculptural gold. She explains: “I had this thought of connecting 12 individuals via this collection and how they could all meet one day, bringing their own gold block like a puzzle piece to complete the sculpture. To me, this digital collection is a virtual Pangaea, uniting us despite physical distances.” Her work is available for purchase on the NFT
marketplace KnownOrigin.