Eco-Friendly at Beksan Designs

As part of the UrbanAir Market we focused our attention to making sure our products are eco-friendly.  At Beksan Designs, we already use natural resources in our jewelry and accessories such as semi-precious stones, metals, glass, and cotton. We’ve found that utilizing environmentally friendly resources contributes to design quality. The result is thoughtfulness for our environment while creating beautiful, timeless designs! Acknowledging our environmental impact started by considering who we are working with and what materials they are using!  From there, the core of our design and materials choices, production methods and general business practices are with artisans that are also environmentally conscious.  We are VERY fortunate because Turkey is SOOOO resource rich!  We work with artisans that use the gem stones, metals and cottons in Turkey and want to share these resources with America! Here are some ways we’ve learned to promote an eco-friendly environment in both the US and Turkey: 1) Buy local or handmade vs manufactured.  A piece of handmade jewelry made by an artisan can be a very special piece and it enables you to ask all the right questions. What materials are they using? Where did they source them?  - We at Beksan have done just this and we actually see the gem stones prior to having them crafted into our jewelry pieces.  We also ensure that all metals are genuine and we create jewelry made from diverse natural metals including: brass, silver, 24k gold vermeil and zinc. 2) Buy recycled. There is little excuse these days for not using recycled material as precious metals can be reclaimed from existing jewelry, industrial-use metals, and electronics components. Precious metals can be recycled repeatedly with no compromise to quality.  Many of our pieces are made from recycled materials ie brass and zinc! 3) Avoid jewelry made from living things. Coral jewelry is ever so popular at the beach, but we’ve all heard the horror stories about how endangered our precious coral reefs are. If you like the look of coral, or other living things consider imitation jewelry instead–some of which looks quite convincing. 4) Do your research. It is perfectly legitimate to ask as many questions as necessary to satisfy yourself that what you are purchasing is truly eco-friendly jewelry. Again, this will always be easiest when there are fewer steps between you and the supplier. Adapted from http://ecovillagegreen.com/3721/six-tips-for-buying-eco-friendly-jewelry Wearing eco-friendly jewelry and accessories will make you look good as well as feel better about how you are supporting the environment!