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Book an Appointment | Open Tues - Sat: 11am - 5pm | studio@eradesign.ca
Open by Appointment Tues - Sat 11AM - 5PM | studio@eradesign.ca

Ethics

Unique Wedding Rings | Era Design Vancouver Canada
 

At Era Design we are committed to hand making jewellery in a way that minimizes the impact on our environment and fosters local Vancouver artisans within our own community.

 

Sustainability is Collaborative

We believe, at every stage of creating jewellery, relationships should be fostered with respect — it's a transparent and collaborative process from beginning to end. If you have questions, don't be shy, just ask.

Precious Metals

It’s important to recognize the roles precious, and semiprecious metals play in our daily lives. From the mobile phones in our pockets to the bicycles and cars we commute with. We acknowledge all these metals and their byproducts come at a cost to our planet. However, with this in mind jewellers have long been 'recyclers.' The increasing value of the materials we work with ensures nothing goes to waste. In fact, virtually all of the gold we work with has at one point or another been recycled during its lifetime. Currently, our gold is between 50-100% recycled content.

Conflict-Free Diamonds

Era Design only purchases diamonds from trusted diamond suppliers with closed-loop tracking from mining to cutting and polishing. Our Canadian mined diamonds follow ethical labour, trade, and environmental standards. Canada is one of the few countries in the world that has banned the sale of conflict diamonds. We are proud that our government is one of the few that has taken such a leading position on this issue. 

A conflict-free diamond means different things to different people. At Era design, we buy only from trusted suppliers who don't source diamonds from countries that have active civil wars or armed conflicts. We support local economies with labour laws and regulated environmental practices. Events in the world are constantly evolving. Conflict can happen at any moment; political systems can change, natural or environmental disasters can occur anywhere. We do our best to stay apprised of current events impacting our industry and inform our purchasing policies.

As an added measure, Era Design does not accept loose diamonds supplied by clients. Diamonds of unknown or unverified provenance can be treated with hazardous processes that are not disclosed to customers and could be unsafe for our goldsmiths and stone setters to work with. If you have an existing mounted jewellery item you wish to reset we will want to know the provenance of the piece, and in some cases, we may ask for an independent appraisal of the gemstones. We will want to unset the gems in our workshop so we can best assess the condition of the stones for future resetting.

Ethically Sourced Coloured Gemstones

We've worked hard to develop partnerships with dedicated suppliers of ethical coloured gemstones such as sapphires from Montana, Australia and Sri Lanka. We proudly offer a variety of unique colours ranging from the traditional blues to soft peach to ice blue, fancy yellow, pink purple, forest greens and more. 

As in the case of diamonds, Era Design does not accept loose gemstones supplied by clients. Gemstones of unknown or unverified provenance can be treated with hazardous processes that are not disclosed to customers and could be unsafe for our goldsmiths and stone setters to work with. If you have an existing mounted jewellery item you wish to reset we will want to know the provenance of the piece, and in some cases, we may ask for an independent appraisal of the gemstones. We will want to unset the gems in our workshop so we can best assess the condition of the stones for future resetting.

Copyright

As creators and makers, Era Design unequivocally respects copyright laws. Originality is one of the cornerstones of our business. Therefore it's is our policy not to copy other designer’s work. During the design process, clients may reference existing jewellery designs and seek inspiration from art, architecture, and nature. This can be useful to reveal a common thread to draw upon as a catalyst for creating individual designs. Era Design retains the copyright to all designs created during the custom design process.

Trademark

All jewellery stamped with Era Design’s trademark is designed and crafted in Vancouver by local craftspeople. This stamp signifies the pride of design and workmanship which is at the heart of the process. At a time when manufacturing and customer service is routinely outsourced, and quality control is elusive, we have assembled a team of dedicated Vancouver professionals whose work is their passion. By working with Era Design, you are contributing economically to your own community and helping to enrich and preserve local artisanal knowledge and skills.

Image Integrity

All images are photographs of genuine pieces of jewellery handcrafted by Era Design. Why are we so clear on this? We believe that what you see should be what you get. We only employ a modest amount of Photoshop to our images to remove reflections, fingerprints, dust and prop wax that accumulates during a photo shoot.

Unlike many online jewellery stores, we do not use computer generated 3D models in any of product promotion. It's easy to create a perfect 3D model of a ring, but it takes a team of highly specialized artisans to translate that concept into a wearable piece of art.