I did not begin my practice of making jewelry by thinking I would need to understand global mining practices and responsible gold sourcing. That awareness came unexpectedly, years later, during travel in Peru’s Madre de Dios region — a place of extraordinary rainforest biodiversity.
Soon I learned that the mercury used to separate gold from sand in this process would be released back into the water with devastating consequences for humans, wildlife and the environment. That moment shifted the direction of my studio practice.
For many years, jewelry designers, myself included, relied on “recycled gold”, believing it avoided harm that can come from mining. With deeper research I discovered that recycled metal carries no origin information. Metals from many sources are melted together at a refinery, making environmental and labor conditions unknowable.
My earlier career as an attorney taught me to look past reassuring language and examine the evidence. If the source could not be known, the truth could not be known either.
I began searching for a material whose origin story could be verified.
Responsible gold begins at the source itself. That source may be a river, a waterway serving multiple stakeholders including fish, rainforest and drinking water.
Over the past 20 years, the sensitive Amazon River Basin has become a threatened habitat with global implications for atmospheric carbon capture, all because of mercury used in gold mining.
Non-profit organizations Pure Earth and Fairmined are working directly with local communities to reduce and eliminate the use of toxic mercury in gold seeking.
Pure Earth and Fairmined work directly with artisanal miners, teaching mercury‑free techniques that protect both health and livelihood.
These programs help families reduce toxic exposure while often improving gold recovery — showing safer practices can also be practical ones.
Knowledge shared locally is the first step toward restoring both communities and landscapes.
Mercury from gold mining contaminates the soil and turns vast areas of pristine rainforest into moonscape. Pure Earth works directly with miners to safely close out old mining sites and rehabilitate degraded ecosystems.
Through reforestation and other techniques, Pure Earth restores degraded mining concessions to reduce legacy mercury contamination that poisons communities and the environment.
The gold must remain accountable after it leaves the ground and when it heads to the market. Mercury free gold must not be mixed with tainted gold after leaving the source.
Fairmined certification provides that assurance. It is an independently audited system verifying environmental protection, working conditions, and full traceability through the supply chain.
Certified miners receive a fair price and a community premium that is invested in schools, safety, and long‑term stability.
This gold arrives at my workshop not as an anonymous commodity, but as a specifically chosen material. One with a known origin. Mercury free. Caring already built in.
I then work with this beautiful gold to fabricate each piece by hand in my Santa Monica studio.
Gold has connected people across continents for thousands of years. Today we are fortunate to have the ability to shape not only the object itself, but also the path it travels to reach us. We have the ability to amplify the good this gold does in the world.
My work has always focused on creating durable, wearable pieces meant to live with a person over time — a philosophy of buying less, choosing carefully, and keeping meaning close. I became a Fairmined licensed jeweler so I could know exactly where the gold I use comes from — and so you can know as well.
Each piece made from Fairmined gold is, to me, a voice and a vote: for safer working conditions, for communities to benefit from their resources, and for landscapes to be recovered rather than be exploited and then abandoned.
When you wear a piece, you bring your voice to that effort.
The Fairmined Americas Collection exists to make caring connections visible in the real world and to share a story of possibility. Explore the pieces created from this gold–gold to be proud of.
