Gold Grain Stud Earrings in 14K Yellow Fairmined Ecological Gold
- Description
- Fully Traceable
You know that perfect everyday, “will-never-take-them-off” pair of gold stud earrings? Well, we’re remixing that, adding a little twist and a big twist. The little twist: instead of using perfect geometrical shapes for the studs, we’re using gold grains for a more organic look. The big twist: instead of using just any gold, we’re making them from fully traceable Fairmined Ecological gold! So now not only will you never want to take them off, you also will never want to stop talking about them—because jewelry that has an empirical origin story to tell is jewelry that’s beautiful inside and out. From RIVA New York’s Fairmined Gold Collection.
At the moment, our Gold Grain Stud Earrings in 14K Yellow Fairmined Ecological Gold are made to order, so please allow up to two (2) weeks before your order is shipped. (But please welcome the surprise if we can get it to you faster than that!)
- Minimalist, understated style
- Modern everyday essential
- For the eco-sensitive and sustainability-conscious jewelry lover
- Wear solo, or alongside with other earrings (if you have multiple piercings)
- Gold grain dimensions: 4.75 mm x 5 mm
- Gold grain weight: approximately 0.68 grams
- Due to the organic shape of the gold grains—by virtue of the primordial nature of the graining process—and as with small-batch items that feature artisanal components, the abovementioned figures (dimensions, weight) are approximate and slight variance may occur; and no two pieces will ever be exactly alike
- Sold as a pair (unlike most of our earring styles), so no need to adjust the quantity above to “2” before adding to cart; when you chose the default quantity of "1" you will get a pair.
- Made by New Yorkers in our Brooklyn, NY, facility, where we have a special area dedicated for work on Fairmined gold pieces, to minimize risk of mixing with non-Fairmined pieces
- Only the stud components are made of Fairmined Ecological gold; the butterfly backs are made of non-Fairmined (albeit recycled) gold
- The Fairmined Ecogolical gold used to make this piece is from the wonderful, hardworking folks at Minera Oro Puno, a Fairmined-certified mining organization in San Antonio de Putina, Perú
The Fairmined Ecogolical gold used to make this piece is from the wonderful, hardworking folks at Minera Oro Puno, a Fairmined-certified mining organization in San Antonio de Putina, Perú. Subsequent batches might be made of gold from other Fairmined-certified mines. RIVA New York will always endeavor to identify the mine of origin—the name of the mine will be written in a small certificate that will come with your order. Click here to read about Minera Oro Puno and how the Fairmined Initiative has helped their community.
FAQs
What is Fairmined?
Fairmined is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal/small-scale mining organizations, created by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), a non-profit organization globally recognized as a pioneer of responsible artisanal/small-scale mining. The Fairmined standard requires the following: formal and legal mining operations; environmental protection; safe working conditions; traceability; supporting the socio-economic development of communities around the mines.
Are we able to trace RIVA New York’s Fairmined Gold Collection pieces back to the mine of origin?
Yes! For our first few pieces, we are using Fairmined Ecological gold from the wonderful, hardworking folks at Minera Oro Puno, a Fairmined-certified mining organization in San Antonio de Putina, Perú. Each time we order Fairmined Ecological gold, the source mine is always identified, and so we will always be able to share the provenance with our jewelers, employees and customers. There is a chance that future batches will be made of Fairmined Ecological gold from other Fairmined-certified mines (at the moment, there are 7 Fairmined-certified mines in existence); and so we will be updating our Website accordingly.
What is the difference between Fairmined gold and Fairmined Ecological gold?
The gold produced under the abovementioned standards is called Fairmined gold. Fairmined Ecological gold is gold that is produced under the same strict standards for responsible mining that applies to Fairmined gold, but with an added requirement: there must be no use of any toxic chemicals (like mercury and cyanide) in the mining process. The gold used for RIVA New York’s Fairmined Gold Collection is Fairmined Ecological gold.
Is this style available in Fairmined silver? Does Fairmined silver even exist?
Yes, Fairmined silver exists! For now, though, everything in our Fairmined Gold Collection only comes in 14K yellow Fairmined Ecological gold. We do have plans of adding styles in Fairmined silver in the future!
Good to Know
Made by New Yorkers
This piece is made with tender loving care by talented artisans in our Brooklyn, NY, facilities. A crew so diverse it reflects the melting pot of a city in which we operate—and who have more than 200 years of combined experience in jewelry making!
Two-Week Lead Time
RIVA New York does not keep this item in stock most of the time. Mass production (or flow production) is not in our parlance. In an effort to reduce waste, we are all about small batch production. Please allow two weeks for delivery of your piece!
Fair Pricing
There's no middleman here, since your RIVA New York pieces literally beeline from our benches to your shipping box, so you can rest assured that you won't see insane markups from us. One of our goals for 2025 is to be more transparent with our costs!
Empowering Artisanal/Small-Scale Miners
What Makes Fairmined Special?
RIVA New York has always been a proponent of sustainable and ethical sourcing, and since our inception we have been using recycled precious metals (SCS-certified recycled gold and sterling silver) for a huge chunk of our collections. We quickly came to realize, though, that using recycled metal exclusively is not enough–we could not afford to exclude small-scale and artisanal miners just to minimize risks of abuses in the supply chain! And so a decision was made to also source from responsible small-scale and artisanal mines—and that’s how our Fairmined Gold Collection was born. Fairmined is an assurance label that certifies gold from empowered responsible artisanal/small-scale mining organizations. The initiative was founded and is operated by the non-profit Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM). So far they have certified a total of 7 mines (four in Peru, three in Colombia). When you are wearing a piece of jewelry made of Fairmined metals, not only are you guaranteed that you can trace the metal back to the mine of origin, you can also rest assured that you are contributing to: improving the lives of the miners and their families; ensuring they have stable jobs; promoting safe and healthy work environments for them and their colleagues; helping them establish better trade relationships; reducing the environmental impact of mining; safe and reduced handling of chemicals in the mining process (or, in the case of Fairmined Ecological gold, promoting chemical-free extractions); protection of water supplies; ending child labor; promoting gender equality within the mining profession. Click here to learn more about the Fairmined Initiative and the benefits of choosing jewelry made of Fairmined metals. (Illustration courtesy of ARM.)
No Muss, No Fuss
Simple, As It Should Be
When we were conceptualizing the designs for the first few pieces of our Fairmined Gold collection, it was tempting for us to go to town, reach deep into bag of tricks—after all, were we not bolstered by the technical prowess of our parent company, who boasts of decades of experience in jewelry innovation, and so shouldn’t we be taking full advantage of that and coming up with the most ambitious designs possible? We had to restrain ourselves, though. Our goal in creating this collection is to introduce the Fairmined initiative to a new generation of jewelry lovers, and hopefully it would serve as a springboard for Fairmined to enter the broader jewelry lexicon—and so to employ fanciful designs as a vehicle, we felt, was only going to muddy the message. We figured that to give the Fairmined story an eloquent voice, we needed designs that go back to basics. A clean slate, so to speak. And so that is why decided to go for the gold grain element—the gold grain, after all, is the most fundamental unit from which all jewelry is built up—to adorn a simple band, a simple cable chain, and simple studs. This way they can be worn by anyone, regardless of their personal style…. And this way, the message is reliably lucid: not all that glitters is gold, but if it’s gold that’s kind to the miners and kind to the environment, then that’s just the kind of luster that puts anything that glitters to shame—and the kind of luster you should be wearing.