PIPES - For Harriet Kelsall

Designing for a client. The brief was: Fairtrade Metal. Workers in Fairtrade gold mines, such as the Macdesa and Sotrami mines in Peru, use the money they earn to improve life within their communities. Education, clean water and healthcare is bettered through the help of the Fairtrade foundation and the money this provides. This is the premise of the earrings I’ve designed – inspired by the clean water sources built through the funds raised through the sales of precious metals across the world. The familiar aesthetic of water pipes that make up the earrings, also have a direct link to those of the water pumps used in the process of gold mining itself. The work encapsulates the benefits of the Fairtrade foundation and the relationship between the jewellery industry and ethical consumerism. The earrings act as a subtle memento that the buying of Fairtrade gold can help benefit another person, family or whole community. This is communicated through the honesty of the material aesthetic and the visual language that conveys the premise it’s been informed by.