Thinking flashy is just so last century. In this month’s trend column, Claire Adler examines how conscience shopping and a new kind of austerity are impacting the jewellery world.

Jacob Arabo, of Jacob & Co, is the New York jeweller famed for his glitzy watches and jewellery throughout the music, entertainment, fashion and sports worlds. But these days, even Jacob is toning down the sparkle. Last year, he announced a strategy to create more refined jewellery.

Jacob isn’t the only trendsetting hip hop artist now flaunting less ostentatious pieces. The latest offerings from Tiret New York, a brand co-founded by music mogul Damon Dash, and known for outsized diamond-littered complicated watches, are completely diamond-free.
A move towards subtlety is evident. And it’s symptomatic of a much broader shift in consumption patterns. Research from the UK’s Future Foundation reveals that of late, consumers are being driven by conscience, self-denial and virtue far more than indulgence.

For example, a third of people questioned claimed they’d think twice before giving indulgence products such as chocolates, sweets and alcohol to their friends and family for Christmas 2005. They also believed sports utility vehicles should be banned from inner cities. 30% agreed a pregnant woman smoking in public should be cautioned by a police officer.
At the same time, ethical shopping and organic food consumption are on the up across Europe. Fashion companies are under pressure to justify they are sweatshop-free.

After over a decade of bling, excess, showiness and celebrity, we are entering a climate of restraint, ethics, community conscience and conspicuous abstention. Trend forecasters, the Future Laboratory, have dubbed this trend Nu Austerity. And it’s no surprise that jewellery is clearly seeing the signs of this trend.

As eco-fashion gathers momentum and hits the mainstream, last month’s London Fashion Week introduced Estethica, an exhibition dedicated entirely to eco-sustainable contemporary high fashion. Designers who showed there uphold one or more of three principles - fair trade, organic fabrics and / or recycling.

“The growth of ethical trading has been driven by companies in the food and clothing sector, keen to address the direct issues facing the people who produce the goods they sell, particularly in developing countries,” according to a London Fashion Week Estethica press release.

Eco-friendly exhibitors included Tatty Devine, who re-works second hand fabrics and materials. The Branch uses wood from Africa and Katerina Psoma incorporates Moroccan and Tibetan elements.

Also showing at Estethica were Brazilians, M+A Designs. They’ve been making jewellery entirely from natural Brazilian seeds and pods since 2002. From their central workshop in Brazil, they formed a co-operative with wives of local farm workers, who had few employment opportunities beyond working as housewives or domestic servants. The co-operative enabled the local women to transfer their traditional weaving, embroidering and crochet skills to making jewellery.

For the first time ever, the United Nations has backed a fashion venture - ethical luxury accessory brand, Taytu, which produces hand made goods and jewellery all bearing a Made in Ethiopia label. Taytu claims to be high end craftsmanship with a personal touch. In Addis Ababa, a team from the UN’s Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) has worked with designers and local suppliers and trained local craftspeople to maximise their skills passed down over generations.

Diamond industry authority Martin Rapaport believes the market is now ripe for fair trade diamond jewellery. He sees a business opportunity that will attract both those who want to help Africa as well as those without a conscience who only want to make money. Big spender consumers will hardly hesitate to part with cash for “a spiritual sparkle beyond price”, he told the Financial Times earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the Tanzanite Foundation is committed to investment in sustainable community projects developed in agreement with the Maasai people living at tanzanite’s source and simultaneously works with fashion’s favourite British designers, Stephen Webster and Shaun Leane, and stylist Andrea Lieberman for Mouawad.

October sees the new version of the 26 year old Chelsea Crafts Fair being re-branded Origin at a specially designed pavilion at Somerset House. While the provenance of goods and how they are made is currently high on the minds of consumers, the name Origin declares unequivocallly that buying craft is about acquiring a unique item from its maker.
In fact, British craft is having a bit of a moment. Between 1994 and 2003 turnover in the British crafts sector more than doubled to over £826 million. Average prices have risen significantly and corporate buyers have emerged as a new category of customer.

Kiwon Wang, an Origin exhibitor, is a New York-based Korean jeweller, who combines recycled newspaper with pearls for an East meets West look. “I think increased interest in making jewellery from recycled objects is due to growing environmental awareness, negating the idea of jewellery as an indicator of social status. Jewellery is an extension of self-expression,” she says.

Other jewellers at Origin include An Allerweireldt who works with vinyl records and lolly sticks, Angela O’Kelly who makes recycled paper jewellery and Grainne Morton who turns found objects such as buttons and charms into jewellery.

Some are sceptical about romantic notions of a simpler life and whether a trend for ethical shopping will endure. Nevertheless, products that allow consumers to buy into this idealised notion and send out signals that they are doing the right thing, such as jewellery by Mana Bernades, are timely.

Bernades makes jewellery from materials including toothpicks, hair clips, pearl, silver and gold and even coffee spoons. Fortunately, her inventiveness means the recycled elements are unrecognisable in the final pieces. Bernades’ handiwork was worn on screen by actresses in a popular soap opera in her native Brazil when she was just 11. Now 25, her playful objects have been exhibited in galleries and are sold in Colette in Paris.

Meanwhile, one American-born, London-based jeweller is exploiting an opportunity for conspicuous recycling. A former racing driver whose CV includes circuit racing, race instruction, stunt driving and a fine arts degree, Mary Kaczor has created the Bijou Racing Collection using bits of old racing cars. A £25,000 pendant made from part of the suspension from Formula One World Championship-winning Fernando Alonso’s grand prix car, was recently snapped up by Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone.