Big thank you’s are always due at moments like this. Receiving an MBE from HRH Prince Charles is an honour. An honour extended to everyone who has stood up for fair trade ethical principles in our wonderful profession. However it is an honour that I dedicate to the majority in the jewellery supply chain. The dirt poor, forgotten, marginalised, exploited and vilified artisanal miner. The artisanal miner who anoints and dignifies our gold with the sweat of their hard labour. The artisanal miner who is on the receiving end of jewelleries unjust scales. Scales weighted in favour of a tiny minority of privileged elite brands, invisible middle-men who dishonour us all by exploiting the most vulnerable and stock market listed mining companies. I confess, I am not a fan of the social and environmental aberration called large-scale gold mining.

‘So you are doing gold properly?’ was one of the questions I was asked by Prince Charles.

‘Yes, we are doing gold in a fair, just, righteous and pure way’, was my reply

I am very proud of what the International Fairtrade movement has created. The best in class artisanal small-scale mining standard, that is delivering community transformation in South American and African  gold mining communities where it is being implemented.

For jewellers such as myself we can now create stunning jewellery that has impeccable ethical credentials.

The campaign continues though. Despite the clear and obvious successes, we are still not seeing the levels of public awareness around the huge challenges the gold jewellery supply chain faces. On this more needs to be done by all of us to raise consumer awareness of Fairtrade Gold.

I am looking forward to these new challenges and anticipate a day when the words Fairtrade and Gold become the world’s most popular way of asking for gold jewellery.