Introducing Lumoi - Featured Seller

It is with pleasure to introduce Lumoi  to Recycled Market.

Can you tell us a little about who you are?

Lumoi is an on-line ethical jewellery boutique offering handmade pieces designed and made by Louise Hall.

Louise has worked in the jewellery industry for 9 years. She started her career as a buyers assistant on the jewellery desk for a TV shopping channel. This fueled her passion for jewellery and allowed her to work with a wide range of designs from the UK and abroad, visiting many of the UK based jewellery shows and the Vincenza Jewellery show in Italy.

Lou went on to London's jewellery quarter, Hatton Garden where she then worked for a major Diamond and Gold importers. Intrigued by the intricate processes involved, specifically in handmade jewellery production, Louise decided to dedicate her spare time to exploring jewellery making techniques and design herself.

In Jan 2008 Lumoi was born.

Can you tell us about your products?

All Lumoi jewellery is made by hand from Louise's London based studio. We never produce more than 5 pieces of each design, with most of our lines being one of a kind. We do this to avoid contributing to an already flooded market whilst keeping you safe with the knowledge that they will stand out from the crowd with something truly different.

One of Louise's favorite mediums to work with is Precious Metal Clay (PMC) which is a wonderful material that is relatively new to the jewellery industry. One of the best things about PMC for us (and you) is it's low impact on the environment. The ground fine silver particles are recycled & reclaimed from scraps, x-ray and film plates. So it has great Eco-credentials! PMC is finely ground pure silver particles mixed together with an organic binder to form a clay like material. The 'clay' can be shaped and molded by hand and interesting textures and shapes can be made with the use of hand tools. Once dried PMC can be fired in a kiln or with a hand torch. Here's where the magic happens; during the firing process the organic binder holding the silver particles together burns away, fusing the silver (sintering), leaving a solid piece of .999 pure silver. We try to incorporate recycled material into our designs as much as we can.

We package all of our jewellery in recycled glass jars that we save from our homes & studio to keep our products as 'green' as possible. The material that covers our jars is recycled too! We encourage our customers to be creative & re-use the jars in their homes or place of work, keeping them in circulation for as long as possible.

How do you incorporate recycled material into your products?

Along with using recycled fine silver (PMC) we have also launched a jewellery recycling service in conjunction with London Jewellery week back in June 2010, which has received a great response! Customers can send in their unwanted/broken jewellery which is valued by us and a voucher is offered in exchange for the unwanted pieces. All jewellery sent in is dismantled, cleaned & worked into new designs often teamed with a little something new to add a new lease of life . The more jewellery sent into us, the greener we are becoming, it's great! To find out more please visit here

Example of jewellery that cannot be recycled

Jewellery that can be recycled

What does the future have in store for Lumoi?

We're extremely excited to be having a new website built! It's still in the very early stages but we're hoping to have it live early next year. So expect new ranges, new ways to recycle your old jewellery, new services & new products available more often!! We're also preparing a competition for our 4th birthday in January 2012, so keep tuned on Twitter or Facebook for more details on that. And of course, we're going to keep pushing our recycling service in order to revive all those odd beads, earrings, bracelets & necklaces laying unloved at the bottom of all those jewellery boxes out there!

Shop Lumoi > here

Introducing Over It!

"OVER IT!? It's the label I give all things I create from recycling, recreating, refashioning..

When I am Over It what do I do? I think about how I can change it and create something bold

and eye catching!! When you're Over It what do you do with it?"

Over It! have designed original earrings and exclusively for Recycled Market!

Earrings are cut and sewn individually adding op shopped buttons. They measure 4cm in diameter and most of them are made from cotton pillow cases making them super soft and light against your ears. The backings are lead and nickel free so your ears will be even happier. 

Shop Over It!  > here

Introducing Factory on the Moon

Hailing from The Netherlands, Mrs Moon,thinks it is important to recycle..

"Welcome! I think it's important to recycle! So everything in my shop is recycled.

I make bracelets out of plastic bags, a necklace from an old dinosaur toy or paper.

Think about the environment! We can make so many beautiful things with what

we already have! Sit back, relax, and click away!

Love, Mrs Moon."

 

Shop Factory on the Moon > here

Introducing Greg Mann Jewellery to Recycled Market

"Greg has been practicing his craft for over two decades, showing his work around Australia and in other countries.

The recent decision to take his work into a more commercial context directed him to view his studio and stores of materials in a different light.

Upon delving into the various collections he had begun, and contemplating what his interests had been over time, he observed some patterns and reinforced his moral stance about creating new work from found objects.

He noticed a recurring theme in the culinary utensil area as he had gathered a stock pile of organic materials, including bone and ivory handles from old cutlery sets.

Eventually realising that the jewellery he made using this source for materials was of interest to a wide cross section of the public and that this was an area which offered endless possibilities.

The range of objects that he now produces consists of the gleanings from trash and treasure markets, opportunity shops, friends, customers and supporters.

His backyard studio now bulges with the plethora of items that we use in our kitchens and he uses his jewellery making skills to heighten and embellish those familiar objects into curious wearables."
 

Shop Greg Mann Jewellery > here

Recycled Wood Rings

Beautiful rings, handcrafted in New Zealand by nga waita made with recycled native wood and natural crystals.

blue lace agate rings
(said to encourage higher wisdom honesty and peace)

Rose quartz rings
(calms, soothing energy which removes negativity)

Pounamu rings
(often signifies peace and has immense spiritual value

te ori hau wears smokey quartz ring and an amazonite ring

kelly wears an amethyst ring a citrine ring and a fluorite ring

There is currently a competition to win one of Nga Waiata's fabulous rings over on Street and City Photos (Sreet Life Daily, Auckland & Wellington Blog)