Anna and Page may have gone to the same college and shared a love for jewelry-making, but it was their common passion for sustainability and social responsibility that began their Bario-Neal Jewelry business partnership. Says Anna, “Page and I had a lot of common friends, but it wasn’t until a few years after graduation that we realized we were both making jewelry and interested in a lot of the same issues related to jewelry making, particularly where our materials were coming from.”
Anna explains that in their line of work, there is often no explanation of where materials originate. “You buy a sheet of metal or a spool of wire and you have no idea where it came from.” The designers moved to Philadelphia and spent the next few years researching the issue and educating themselves on the socially and environmentally minded efforts within the jewelry industry. Anna says, “There are some, but they are primarily focused on gem stones because there are more recognized human rights issues with those, with blood diamonds, and with issues related to political conflict.” When it came to precious metals, however, there wasn’t much to get on board with. “With precious metals mining, there are some methods in the pilot phases now to create fair trade gold at mine sites, and we’re excited about those plans being finalized.”
Anna says that changing how precious metals are acquired is crucial because of the cost of irresponsible mining. “With metals, there are two kinds of mining. The first, large scale mining, involves huge mines and thousands of tons of ore, and the issues with that are habitat destruction, community displacement, and acid mine drainage in water. The second, artisanal mining, can lead to human health and environmental issues because some workers aren’t properly educated about working with mercury. Small scale mining communities in developing countries can have too much contact with mercury and develop major health issues or a contaminated water supply.”
Uncovering all the mistakes made in their industry inspired Anna and Page to run their jewelry business in a way they could be proud of. “We only work with ethically sourced stones, recycled metals, and we do a lot of little things in our studio practices, like using citric acid rather than traditional jeweler’s pickle because it’s less toxic. We’re also on a committee to create more standards for fair trade and to make things more transparent in the industry.”
Anna and Page also encourage customers to join in their efforts. “Precious metals are never garbage—they can all be reused or sold, especially right now with metal being so expensive. If a customer is having us remake their grandmother’s engagement ring and they want to keep the diamonds but put it in a new setting, we can buy the metal from them, recycle it, and use it to make a new ring.”
Bario-Neal uses their ethical approach to jewelry-making for the two very different sides of their business. “We do two different things—we do fine jewelry, engagement rings, wedding bands—and ready-made pieces, more casual pieces and necklaces. The ready-made pieces can cost $30 and the fine jewelry can be $3000.” Because their two focuses are so different, they require very different forms of preparation. “For the ready-made collection, Page and I spend months designing the collection, throwing ideas back and forth and working on it, and then release it. With the fine jewelry, since we do so much custom design, a lot of the pieces we design with the customers involved.”
As Bario-Neal attempts to become better known both in Philadelphia and online, Anna is grateful to be doing so in this city. “This is a great place to be. Philly offers us a strong jewelry industry, we can do everything locally without having to ship things back and forth, and we have a lot of mentors on jeweler’s row here who have been in the jewelry business for decades.”