Introducing Just Trade x Oliver Bonas

Just Trade is a design-led jewellery and accessories brand that works in partnership with small Fair-Trade projects around the world, built around the interests of the people who make the products. Founded by jewellery designer Laura in 2006, Just Trade works in collaboration with small craft collectives and women’s cooperatives in rural communities in Peru, Ecuador, India, Indonesia and Vietnam to create handmade jewellery and accessories while providing training and fairly paid work.

Just Trade's system prioritises producers, communities and the environment. Just Trade selects materials that are locally sourced and environmentally sound where possible and ensures that recycling and waste management are part of the supply chain. ‘We provide vocational training, life-skills and whole-person care,’ explains Laura, ‘and we are committed to sustainable sourcing and production processes which minimise environmental impact.’

Many of the Just Trade team are graduates from the School of Jewellery in Birmingham, and they’ve been working in partnership with Hope Jewellery in Lima, Peru, and Flowering Desert in Tamil Nadu, Southern India, providing the projects with training in jewellery-making techniques for over 15 years.

In 2010, Grace and Lottie, two design graduates working with Just Trade, visited the Flowering Desert project in Southern India, where they found seven women all trained in tailoring but struggling to work due to an unpredictable power supply. They trained the women in traditional jewellery-making techniques such as beading, polishing and hammering. As the techniques used hand tools, they didn’t need to rely on an electricity source.

The Flowering Desert women work in a safe and supportive environment. They are given free transportation to work, counselling, healthcare, advice on money management and help with educating their children. Several of the women on the project live in a safe house on site, which is a refuge for vulnerable women and children. The rest come from the surrounding rural community where work opportunities are limited.

The training and fairly paid work at Flowering Desert provide a way for the women to upskill and secure future employment. The project started with a handful of women and now provides regular work for 25, helping to equip the women to improve the quality of their lives.

Just Trade has been working with the Hope Jewellery project since 2006, when Laura was invited to visit them in Lima, Peru. Over the last 18 years, Just Trade has provided the project with part-time, fairly paid work that helps the women balance childcare and work more easily, making a significant difference to their household incomes and enabling them to have more time with their families.

Several of the women working with Hope Jewellery already had crochet skills when Laura first visited them, and Just Trade has provided further training in jewellery making techniques. This has given the artisans the confidence to design and make their own products. They have also worked on capacity building and have developed dozens of commercially successful ranges. The project is now based in four areas of Peru, and Just Trade now provides regular work for more than 40 women.

Elizabeth and Diana are sisters in law from the Hope Jewellery project and worked together on product development for the Oliver Bonas collection. Diana focused on the metal work, while Elizabeth is the expert in crochet, and they were keen to develop a range that showcased their individual skills. Between them the sisters in law have five children, and the earnings received from the jewellery collaboration have paid for school uniforms, books and supplies.

Fair trade is about better prices, decent working conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers. It’s about supporting the development of thriving worker communities so that they can have more control over their futures and protect the environment in which they live and work.

As a guaranteed member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) and a member of BAFTS Fair Trade Network UK (BAFTS), Just Trade contributes towards fundamental changes in the status of craftspeople in the Global South through Fair-Trade retailing and campaigning.