ChangeMaking Retrospective

Organised by The Scottish Goldsmiths Trust in partnership with the Goldsmiths’ Centre, our fourth annual Ethical Making symposium, entitled ChangeMaking, took place at City of Glasgow College on Friday, 25 March 2022 after two long years of pandemic-related postponement. Makers, students, industry professionals and more gathered in the lecture theatre to hear a variety of ChangeMaking talks. Each year, our Ethical Making symposium focuses on a different range of topics to encourage students, makers and industry professionals to consider how they can incorporate Ethical Making into their own practice or business. This year’s theme discussed how through innovative design strategies and alternative sourcing, jewellers and makers can design out waste, source ethically and create better brands. Thank you to those who were able to attend.

Images by James Robertson

Our Chief Executive, Ebba Goring, welcomed attendees, presenting an overview of the latest Ethical Making projects within The Scottish Goldsmiths Trust—namely Scotland’s first Radical Jewellery Makeover. This project relied on generous donations of old or unwanted jewellery from the public to be transformed by participating students and staff across six Scottish art colleges into new, desirable jewellery.

You can learn more about our RJM Project below:

Ebba Goring by James Robertson

Our first guest speaker, Susie Ganch, presented from North America—transcending time zones with their pre-recorded lecture. Susie is co-director of the jewellery recycling project, Radical Jewelry Makeover (RJM), a project that originated in the United States. Their talk focused on how studio practices might change after participation in RJM, encouraging the continuity of respectful material sourcing and making. Susie later joined us live for a Q&A, candidly discussing with attendees the legacy of ones’ jewellery practice and the future she envisions.

Learn more about Radical Jewelry Makeover:

Student ambassadors Sarah McQuarrie from The Glasgow School of Art and Emilia Santaella from Edinburgh College of Art shared their RJM experience with accompanying images of their work and process. Both praised the project’s ability to bring participants together across academic year groups and institutions.

Sarah McQuarrie by James Robertson

Our Ethical Making Programme Manager, Karen Westland, then introduced the re-launch of the Ethical Making Resource. (link) Karen gave an overview of those who contributed to the Resource and explained how users may join the Resource as a member to gain free access to over one-hundred resources in the supplier directory and library. Karen also spoke about their work as an independent maker, captivating the audience with their cross disciplinary research, demonstrating how physics and contemporary silversmithing do, and may, complement one another.

Learn more about Karen’s practice:

Karen’s presentation was followed by our Ethical Making Programme Assistant, Iona Turner, who spoke about their jewellery collection ‘The Seaweed Gatherer,’ focusing on seaweed as material choice. The seaweed is gathered along Scottish coastlines, mostly around Edinburgh and East Lothian where Iona is based. Iona explained how their seaweed jewellery is sourced, designed and made with ecology and ethical making in mind.

Learn more about Iona’s work:

Rachael Colley’s compelling talk, ‘Re:flux – communicating Bodily Experience Through Jewellery, Cutlery and Sculpture’ inspired attendees. Rachael demonstrated how deeply interwoven their creative work is to their life experience, including influence from living with autism spectrum disorder and with the autoimmune disease Systemic Sclerosis. Rachael shared her fascination with citrus fruits and food waste through her collections Sha-Green and Tongues. Sha-Green transforms citrus peels into an intriguing and pleasantly scented alternative to the material shagreen (shark or ray skin). Tongues materialises leather waste using mangos. Rachael discussed further material exploration in ongoing works, using nettles, bracken, coffee grounds and more. Rachael shared images and insights from the eating experience of Ambiguous Implements and the exhibition of Ambiguous Artefact. Each collection was shared with interspersed anecdotes that drew attendees further into the impressive depth of narrative in Rachael Colley’s Jewellery, Cutlery and Sculpture.

Learn more about Rachael’s work:

Rachael Colley by James Robertson

In the afternoon, Mary Michel, Co-Founder at Ostrero introduced The Creative Coin Project. Mary provided striking insight into the linear economy’s catastrophic effects on people and planet, through topics including debt and climate breakdown. She made clear how crucial the circular economy is, and how the Creative Coin project may offer new opportunities in this as a network for creative skills exchange. Mary shared with us organisations making a difference, including: the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Project Drawdown, Circular Arts Network, Re-Set Scenery as well as their own organisation, Ostrero.

Learn more about Ostrero:

Arabel Lebrusan’s talk ‘When Diamonds Met the Donut: Operating an ethical jewellery business with the help of an economic framework’ was delivered virtually from France. Arabel introduced Donut economics, as well as the Scottish Donut economics model.

Arabel shared personal views to contextualise their own framework, which has evolved over years of experience in the jewellery industry. These views later stemmed great debate in the supplier highlight segment! Arabel kindly supplied a useful hand-out encouraging makers and business owners to find their own personal framework.

ChangeMaking concluded with our ‘Supplier Highlights’, hosting suppliers committed to industry reform to share with us their efforts. 

Finlay Lockie represented Bring Diamonds, with a presentation explaining the various kinds of lab grown diamonds and the issues with energy sources linked to HPHT (High Pressure High Temperature) methods. Finlay received excellent audience reception, answering our many questions insightfully. Bring Diamonds offers CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) diamonds with a positive and unique selling point that proved attractive to many of our attendees.

Learn more about Bring Diamonds:

Finlay Lockie by James Robertson

A representative from The Betts Group, Will Evans, joined us virtually to answer our questions about the Betts SMO (Single Mine Origin) gold. Attendees appreciated the opportunity to ask questions to learn more about how to buy SMO Gold and how SMO gold could be a valuable option, particularly for those who have limited access to metals with a price premium or membership scheme.

Learn more about The Betts Group:

Our final guest speaker, Ravi Toor from Filamentive, gave a presentation about Filamentive and 3D printing. It was highly informative, covering negative impacts the 3D printing process can have on people and planet and Filamentive’s commitment to doing things differently, such as changing the spools and the filament used to more responsible options.

Learn more about Filamentive:

The ChangeMaking symposium then closed with much to reflect on as the lecture theatre emptied. Following the close of the symposium, many attendees and speakers attended the Radical Jewellery Makeover Scotland exhibition private view at Princes Square. We were captivated by the range of perspectives presented to our ChangeMaking audience—from exploring data, systems and frameworks that can inform our decision making, to how independent makers and suppliers have taken innovative steps to alternative sourcing, designing out waste and sourcing materials ethically. We express our thanks to our sponsors, speakers and attendees who made the day a success, with many topics to motivate our actions moving forward.