We are very proud of our efforts to make our business as sustainable and ethical as possible, but we couldn't do it without our wonderful suppliers. They are working just as hard as we do to make a positive impact in their environment, and we want to let everyone know!
Cookson Gold - (Heimerle + Meule)Cooksongold is the UK's largest one-stop shop for the jewellery maker with over 20,000 products and a huge stock of silver, gold, palladium and platinum bullion as well as a huge range of workshop consumables, tools and machinery. Cooksongold are based n Birmingham and Hatton Garden.
With many years of experience in the industry, Cooksongold despatch thousands of parcels every week for next day delivery to designer jewellers, retailers, independent craftsmen, goldsmiths and silversmiths, jewellery students, artisans and craft enthusiasts all over the world. Heimerle + Meule, sister company to Cookson Gold, is one of Europe's largest refiners and processors of precious metals. The Heimerle + Meule Group employs over 750 members of staff at locations in seven countries: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Spain. The precious metals group can respond even faster to the needs of its customers and to changing market trends. As a customer, you benefit from an expanded range of products and services throughout Europe, backed by comprehensive local service. Heimerle + Meule Group provides high quality materials and semi-finished products for jewellery, wedding rings, dentistry, and the electrical and electronics industries. The Ecosilver range by Heimerle + Meule is available here at Cooksongold as an eco-friendly alternative to sterling silver. Made of 100% recycled silver products, Ecosilver can be both treated and worked with in the same way as silver, for the same quality results, it is just simply more environmentally friendly. Using jewellery, medical equipment, electronics and giftware, we have an entire range of Ecosilver products including wire, sheet, grain and solder. All of our Ecosilver products come with a certificate of authenticity- discover it all today. Colbaugh Processing (Kingman Turquoise)There's something about turquoise, it's got a magic to it. Every piece of turquoise is special on it's own. According to the library of congress, turquoise is the first gemstone ever used by man. Every culture in the world holds it in very high regard. There's so much variety, every stone is unique. That is why we treat each stone like it's the last piece of turquoise in the world.
We're on what they call turquoise mountain. Where the ground has cracked, a liquid solution of water, copper, aluminium, phosphorus, and all of the other minerals that are in turquoise solidify to stone over time and create veins of different coloured turquoise. The stone varies in colour and consistency as it goes through the vein, in fact every piece of turquoise extracted from the ground is different. The Kingman Turquoise mine. is run by the Colbaugh family. Patriarch Marty is the current head of the mining and processing operation that his grandfather Chuck started in 1929. Chuck was an inventor and contract miner, and at one time in the 60's held every lapidary patent in the United States. He was able to put all of these things together to create the business as it is today. Son, Josh and his family now run much of the day to day with the help of a small team of employees who assist with surface extraction of the raw material, sorting, processing, cutting, lapping, and even finished jewellery making. There are many types of turquoise, mostly named for the specific mines that they come from. Most of these mines are closed or played out, but the Kingman mine in Arizona continues to this day as the only remaining full-time operating mine in the USA. Kingman turquoise is very special for one main reason, it comes in every colour of green and blue there is. It sets the standard for the whole industry. We guarantee what we have, we back it up. We are the oldest family in the world that does what we do. Wen PearlsKamoka PearlsKamoka pearl farm is located on the atoll of Ahe, a ring of coral that juts a few feet above sea level and encircles a 75-square-mile lagoon. Ahe is located 300 miles north east of Tahiti in the Tuamotu Archipelago. The kindness of the people and the surreal nature of the sea, land and sky make Ahe the essence of a tropical paradise.
The Humbert family sailed to Ahe in the early 1970's on a homemade, ferro-cement hull sailboat. We immediately fell in with the islanders who offered us a beautiful sandy islet where we could settle down and build a palm-leaf house. Loic, the eldest son (who was five years old) went to the only elementary school on the island but Josh was only two and too young for school and thus he started a lifelong love affair with the ocean and its inhabitants. In 1991 Patrick and Loic returned and founded Kamoka Pearl. Patrick has always been a man of the sea; his keen understanding of it told him great things could come from the nutrient-rich water near the mouth of Ahe's lagoon. Josh joined the project a year after its founding as Loic returned to the US. At this point Josh was halfway through his marine biology university studies but he decided to quit school when he realized that he could learn what he wanted firsthand in the South Pacific next to his father. Today, Patrick runs the farm while Josh and partner Celeste run the online side of the business from Portland, Oregon. Meanwhile, we strive to be good custodians of the lagoon, the sea, the island, and the many organisms that live here. We are essentially farming wild animals in a wild environment, and our goal is to do it respectfully and sustainably. We work towards this both in the way we live and in the way we work.
Our farming methods help replenish our lagoon's fish populations, and has been the subject of scientific study. The findings from this study were published in an excellent article about Kamoka's sustainable farming practices on the National Geographic website. On top of all this, virtually all our nuclei are made of mother of pearl (MOP), a natural byproduct of our very own Pinctada margaritifera oysters or their Pinctada maxima cousins. We were the first company in Polynesia to use MOP nuclei, and the Tahitian Pearl Farming Board (La Service de la Perliculture) found in independent tests that our nuclei produced three times more A grade pearls than any other nucleus type. Using MOP nuclei prevents the further over-exploitation of North American freshwater mussels which are the most commonly used nuclei in pearl farming. The team members of Kamoka Pearl are like family. We live together, eat together and work together. Every member of the team has respect for each other, for their work and for our environment. Most pearl farms operate with a military hierarchy and a clear separation between management and employees. Workers are paid little and division between people occurs from job instability. This inevitably results in poor working relations, lower quality of work, thievery, and high employee turnover. At Kamoka unity is paramount, team members are paid exceptionally well, and we suffer from virtually none of these problems. Our turnover is also notably low. Our oldest employee is our full time grafter Timiona Tehaai, who joined us in 1993. Kamoka Pearl farm are contributing members of 1% for the Planet, and the National Resources Defense Council. Aurora GemsTed (the owner, operator, and sole Aurora employee) has spent a lifetime collecting and appreciating gemstones from around the world. He takes a personal and individual interest in all of the gems, stones, and minerals in his collection. And that is essentially what the store is, a very large personal collection.
Based in Dorset, Ted continues to expand his collection as he sells through stock to customers up and down the country, and abroad. All of his finds are bought from source and provided with his personal guarantee of authenticity and origin. Jade WestJade mining in the deep wilds of British Columbia is hard and often dangerous work. Enormous jade boulders rest right on the surface, which makes it one of the more safe and environmentally low impact forms of mineral mining, but the remote location alone makes the process of extracting enough material in a season treacherous and difficult. Jade West has one of the best safety records in the industry.
The company is one of the world's largest producer and exporter of Nephrite Jade, operating four mines located in Northern British Columbia, 100 miles east of the Alaskan Border. During a short summer mining season, when the area is free from snow, Jade West annually mines 100 tonnes of jade for export to China. Jade West is also the exclusive supplier of POLAR JADE, described by FRED WARD in the Lapidary Journal, November 1998, as "the newest, brightest, most translucent, greenest, hardest Nephrite yet discovered." The best jade from each season is selected for jewelry and sculptures created by some of the world's master jade carvers. Other jade is selected for making souvenir products and collectibles. All of these products are available exclusively through The JADE MINE. Jade in rough form is stored at the company's warehouse near Vancouver, Canada. Please call to make an appointment to come see the rough jade, we have it available in sizes ranging from small chips to large boulders. We are a family run company. Paul Lanyon and Nikki Makepeace started up and run the Canadian side of Jade West Resources in 2015 with the help of Kirk and Eileen Makepeace. |