Ethical and Sustainable Jewellery made in NZ
Stone Arrow is committed to operating as a socially and environmentally sustainable business on an ongoing basis.
We have twice been a finalist in the New Zealand Sustainable Business Network awards.
We have listed here the practices and philosophies behind our ethical approach to keep everything crystal clear. This includes an independent environmental audit from the New Zealand Sustainable Business Network.
Contents:
-Independent Environmental Audit from the New Zealand Sustainable Business Network.
-Sustainable practices in our workshop and office.
-Social Objectives and donations.
Independent Environmental Audit
As part of the 2012 Get sustainable challenge Stone Arrow had an independant Environmental report done by the New Zealand Sustainable Business Network covering all aspects of the business from energy usage to product design. As a result of this process Stone Arrow was awarded the prize for best emerging business in the central southern region and was the national runner up.
View or download a copy of the Stone Arrow Get Sustainable Challenge Report here.
Sustainable practices in our Workshop and Office
The recycled glass jewellery range is the future of Stone Arrow and we continue to expand our idea of what is possible with the medium of reused glass from bottles taken from the waste stream.
Recycled Metals we have arranged with our metal supplier Regal Castings to provide StoneArrow with 100% recycled material.
"Regal Castings guarantees that all Sterling Silver and Copper supplied to Stone Arrow Jewellery is made from 100% recycled material. This includes wire, plate and castings. Feel free to contact Trevor at http://www.regal.co.nz for more information."
We also source some copper from offcuts from a local plumber.
Note: at present the only metal that is not recycled are the sterling silver chains and clasps we use with the pendants. We are currently looking into sourcing chains made from recycled material.
We use only recycled cardboard Eco Trackpack Courier bags to send out goods. All bubble wrap and plastic bags are reused from things sent to us.
Office paper is saved and reused on both sides then shredded and used in our worm farm at home, which is great as the worms love it and the vermicast is then used in our garden to grow food.
All plastic bags including the million courier bags I get go up to the Community House shop where they are reused by people to collect bulk goods in.
We don’t have a hot water system (apart from the jug for morning tea!).
We use Energy efficient light bulbs throughout the workshop and turn off all appliances at night and when not in use.
The workshop is fully insulated with wool batts and a layer of reused bottles under the floor slab. It is heated in winter by a small wood burner using wood harvested off the land, we have no electric heating.
The Kiln is always fired totally full of earrings (about 30 pairs at a firing) and it is a very small efficient bead making kiln using about as much power as an electric heater going for 1.5 hours. Only a few designs actually use the kiln.
The tumbler is always run full of earrings (several hundred at a time) so the energy cost per unit is tiny.
Jewellery, because of its size and weight, has a very low carbon footprint to transport around the world.
Social objectives and donations.
Just wanted to share a little of the philosophy behind what drives the Stone Arrow business and brand speaking as Nick Feint the CEO of Stone Arrow.
The truth is I am a bit of an old hippy at heart and realised at some stage part of me had some resistance to growing the business to a much larger more profitable entity.
What changed it for me is that I realised I could potentially do a lot more good in the world running a large business with larger profits than I could by keeping it small. It seems kind of obvious but to me at that time that was a breakthrough.
So the sum of my business philosophy is to build the business up to a level where it can comfortably provide for my family and then donate the excess profits to charities.
What does comfortably provide for my family mean? It means the mortgage is paid off, we have a vehicle that doesn’t break down all the time, the house is finished, we can go on holiday occasionally and pay for the kid’s education and save for our retirement. I am not a martyr wanting to skimp on the comfort of our family, but I do have ideals that would consider an expensive car, holiday home, going overseas often for pleasure more than the world can support. I have some anxiety about the future of the world and the direction it is taking and want to do whatever I can as an individual to make a difference any way I can.
Of course at the moment all of this is a moot point because I have a largish mortgage I need to pay off and lots of expenses for the family that come first, so you will have to trust that I will stick with my ideals!
I am aiming to sell a lot more jewellery than I do currently and continue the trend of growing the business until it is several times larger than what it is now.
I am also personally closely involved with an organization called Tracks which runs 5 day programs acknowledging Rites of Passage for teenage boys growing into young adults.
Existing donations support the following organizations:
Greenpeace, Green Party, Amnesty International, Forest and Bird, Tracks Rites of Passage Foundation, World Vision.
We have also donated to the Christchurch Earthquake appeal and regularly donate jewellery to support charity auctions for various causes both local and national.
