Posts in sustainable practice
Blog 14: Cheltenham Craft Festival and Other News
Blog 14: Cheltenham Craft Festival and Other News

This is a more ‘traditional’ blog, in which I’ll share some of my recent activities and news.

Next week, from 10-12th March 2023, I will be taking part in the Craft Festival at Cheltenham Town Hall. It will be my first time there and I am really looking forward to it. I have been busy making some new pieces and have worked a lot on my display, which I have been wanting to change for some time. Difficult to summarise, but probably best if I share photos of my stand when I am in Cheltenham.

On Thursday, 2nd March at 2pm I will also be chatting to Sarah James, Director of the Craft Festival, live on Instagram. To watch, log onto the Craft Festival page on Instagram at 2pm tomorrow.

In case you are near Cheltenham and would like to visit the next week, here are a few details and links:

 

Dates:

10-12th March 2023

Venue:

Cheltenham Town Hall, Cheltenham, GL50 1QA

Stand: 21

Opening times:

10-5pm Friday & Saturday

10-4pm Sunday

Tickets:

You can purchase tickets in advance by clicking this link. I also still have one free ticket to give away. To find out how to have a chance to win, please see my Instagram post of 28th February – it is super easy to enter.

Activities:

There will be lots on offer this weekend, including workshops, craft demonstrations, talks and activities for the whole family and children in particular. There will be a café on site and of course around 100 fantastic makers and their work. Click here for further details.

Exhibitors:

For a preview of all the 100 exhibitors, click here.

Below are some of the new pieces I shall be taking to the Craft Festival. There are not yet on the website but hopefully soon.

 

Other making news:

Teaching: In January a new teaching term started and the focus of my demonstrations this term is tool making – mainly how to make your own steel stamps or chasing tools and how to prepare a graver for engraving. I love teaching and enjoy the feedback from my students and the opportunity to learn myself.

For more information on the course I teach at Rachel Jeffrey Jewellery School, please click here. Rachel recently appeared as one of the mentors on the BBC1 programme Make it at Market (episodes 8 & 14). To watch please click this link here.

New Ideas: In the last few weeks my daughter and I have been watching many episodes on ancient Egypt and we are both fascinated by it. We went to the British Museum and saw the wonderful Hieroglyphs Exhibition as well as the Egyptian galleries. Needless to say, we bought various books and I am working on ideas for a new collection based on this. Below some of my favourites. The image on the far left stands out. It is a work-in-progress, still showing the lines drawn for the artist who was carving the symbols. An amazing communication across time!

Goldsmiths’ Fair: Influenced by the above, I made a new brooch as part of my application for Goldsmiths’ Fair in the autumn and we shall see if I am lucky this year.

 
 

Commissions: I have also been working on a number of commissions over the last few months and was very pleased with the results. It was lovely working through the ideas with the respective clients, to arrive at pieces which will hopefully give them joy for years to come.

Left to right: The first was an engagement ring in 18ct white and yellow SMO gold with two Canada Mark diamonds and a Fair Trade emerald. The second is a pair of 18ct yellow SMO gold earrings and the third a cuff in textured and recycled silver: Here are some images:

Environmental: My daughter’s school organised a litter pick last Saturday. It was amazing to see that so many families turned up and in just 1 ½ hours we collected 62 plastic bags of rubbish and recycling just from the local area! Though it was sad to see just how much and what people feel free to discard – it was also uplifting to hear all the positive and encouraging comments of passers-by.

For now, there is still plenty to organise for next week’s show. If you do come by, do say hello – I will be at Stand 21.

Take care,

Hendrike

exhibition, Inspiration, sustainable practice, Environmental activities, News, Craft Fairs, EventsHendrike Barz-Meltzernews, environmental, litter picking, goldsmiths' fair, new work, Cheltenham Craft Fair, Events, Upcoming show, Craft FairComment
Blog 13: Environmental Sustainability in the precious metal sector, Round-table discussion
Blog 13: Environmental Sustainability in the precious metal sector, Round-table discussion

I was invited by the Crafts Council to take part in a round-table discussion on the subject of environmental sustainability in the precious metal sector. I was very excited to have been invited and the meeting took place last week, 25th January 2023 in Birmingham at the STEAMhouse.

Image Credit: Jade Mellor

Participants:

The meeting had been organised as a direct result of the annual Crafts Council Maker Needs Survey (2021), in which 85% of makers expressed the wish for further guidance on being more environmentally sustainable in their business, with “a majority of respondents indicating environmental considerations are important to them.”

As such, various round table discussions were organised, each centring on a different discipline and these were to be held in 2022/23 with the results to be published in the spring of 2023.

For our meeting, Caroline had invited professionals with diverse areas of expertise in the precious metal industry to ensure a rich discussion and outcome. She had also circulated a number of questions to be discussed prior to the meeting.

These covered: our understanding of being ethical; what we were already doing in our business; the barriers in our way as well as our motivations for adopting an ethical stance in our work; how much we are influenced in our ethical approach by our customers; our vision for a more ethical future in our work as well as our needs to achieve said vision.

With some participants more knowledgeable in the field of sustainable and ethical practice than others, the round nevertheless provided a positive atmosphere of equality that allowed for the frank exchange of views and thoughts.

Whilst many issues were discussed, my personal favourite comments were:

  • Making the precious metal industries sustainable and ethical requires leadership.

  • This leadership should ideally come from industry and established institutions but in their absence, it is down to everyone to make a difference.

  • For this we need a clear set of values, encompassing, for example, equality, justice and a priority of the poor and environment over resources.

  • We not only need leadership, but also funding to enable change to take place; for research to be undertaken, these kind of talks to take place, etc.

  • We need existing organisations, institutions and individuals, who have already done pioneering work in this field, to cooperate, to share their findings and make them easily accessible to all in the field.

  • The biggest players in the industry, such as the Goldsmiths’ Company, need to become leaders in the field of ethical jewellery, but for that to happen it needs to become more open to change and to an increased inclusion of women.

I look forward to reading the summaries and findings of these discussions and am excited about what changes it may lead to in the future.

Hendrike













Ethical journey, Ethical jewellery, Ethical thinking, sustainability, sustainable practiceHendrike Barz-Meltzerethical methods, ethical jewellery, ethical practice, sustainable, sustainable practice, fairtrade, traceability, leadership, values, authenticity, greenwashing, jewelleryindustryComment