While the jewelry industry has long been rife with exploitation in many forms, we are committed to changing that trajectory by partnering with like-minded industry leaders throughout our supply chain, communicating with transparency, and sharing our learnings. Our hope is that together with our customers, our trailblazing suppliers, and our dedicated commitment, the ripples of our small business can make major waves.

This is a process of continual assessment and revision - involving long conversations with potential suppliers to help us determine the “diamonds in the rough” from the “all talk no walk”.

When we introduce a new design our hope is to detail the origins of the materials. This takes a lot of footwork, know-how, and asking tough questions as we work towards 100% traceability. As we thoughtfully collect recycled and artisanally mined stones for our future designs, we still mix in some stones from years gone by in the spirit of reducing waste and using everything we have. These are the imperfect truths we want to share with our customers, to show our commitment to the process of learning and improving.

Cast metal is the foundational material for each of our designs, and we proudly use 100% recycled and SCS certified gold and silver casting grain - this means that no new metal is extracted from a mine - mother nature passes on her thanks!

We are working towards incorporating Fairmined gold - this is gold which is mined by small scale mines and artisanal miners, backed by 3rd party certifications and an audit system that ensures responsible social development and environmental protection.

As we incorporate more earrings and necklaces to our collection, we require ready made components, such as chains. The availability of fairmined and recycled metal findings is limited, we want to acknowledge this as one link in our supply chain that needs improvement.

The diamond industry has a longstanding tradition of misleading consumers with reassuring terms like, “conflict-free” and “kimberly certified”. More often than not they’re deployed to avoid discussing sustainability issues. Diamond mining always means major environmental impact - and because of this we work with suppliers that are transparent about the origin of diamonds and where the stones are cut.

Whenever possible we source post-consumer recycled diamonds - which means they’ve been repurposed from old jewelry to be used in new designs.

Because of the complexity of diamond sourcing, please consult our individual product pages for detailed sourcing information on the specific stones used in each design. We will also continue to keep this page up to date as we make progress and grow our diamond vendor relationships.

Sapphires are so particular to their origin, which makes them one of our favorite gemstones to source. They show you where they came from, and we like to exhibit this spectrum of tones and hues in many of our designs. To use a variety of sapphires we source them from multiple regions. [*********Insert general information about colored stones and how traceability is difficult - we don’t use only traceable stones because this would hinder our goal of supporting more artisanal miners*********]

Montana — Some of our sapphires are mined domestically in Montana. We’d like to point out that this does not mean everything happens in the USA - often these stones are sent abroad to be cut. That’s ok with us, as long as our suppliers work with a single lapidary that is transparent about their practices, so we can judge that they are operating safely and providing fair compensation.

Madagascar — We purchase our Madagascar sapphires from a vendor who meticulously documents the region of origin for each stone in his inventory. The entire journey is recorded in an online tool developed specifically to provide transparency to the gemstone sourcing process — a blockchain! They have photos of the rough (uncut gem), the preform, and the final product, along with the weight, time, and date at each stage in this process.

Australia — All our Australian sapphires are fully traceable and ethically mined in central Queensland, Australia. Our vendor visits the mines himself to source these special stones, and has longstanding relationship with the miners who extract them. The sapphires are then sent to their partners in Thailand to be cut according to the highest standards for safety and ethics.

Melee — Melee sapphires are a mixed bag. We try to purchase the colors and sizes we love whenever we can— and over the years we’ve consolidated sapphires from multiple regions and sources. While many are traceable, we don’t have the record of their origin on hand to verify. This year we’ve taken significant leaps towards 100% traceability, so any stones we’ve acquired since March is fully documented. We call out as much information as possible in the individual product descriptions for styles that incorporate these stones.

The CS original - one half and rainbow rings are designed using semi precious gemstones, cut specifically to each piece.

We release limited edition inlay rings from time to time - Our current limited edition run features Variscite - that is mined by one person by hand in northern Nevada.

Other inlay gemstones are found during rock hunting trips in Arizona. This includes some of our mother of pearl, abalone, turquoise, jasper, and more. All of our inlay jewelry is cut locally in NY - we place great importance on cutting rough material strategically, to utilize as much of the stone as possible!

While the traceability of these stones can’t always be pinpointed, the origin is specified whenever possible in the product description. We feel this is a gap in our supply chain and is important to indicate. While we endeavor all our materials to be 100% traceable going forward, we also won’t waste or withhold the fruits of this long time collecting hobby.

For a business as small as ours, purchasing our own branded packaging is expensive. Expense aside, it felt wasteful once we discovered the wide world of new old stock and vintage jewelry ring boxes. So we started collecting these as a means of offering a sustainable packaging solution to our customers.

Casual Seance jewelry is hand fabricated in New York. Each artisan involved in the production and fabrication of our jewelry is fairly compensated and working under safe conditions.

As a small business we have no full time employees. Instead we partner with freelancers and pay them the rate they ask for. At our current stage, this is the best way to provide a fair wage to those who we work with.

Each piece of Casual Seance jewelry is designed in small batches or as a one of a kind piece. Quality over quantity is our main goal - Producing only what’s needed and allowing attention to every detail.