Upcycled Glass Is 2020's Ethical Jewellery Trend
Reclaimed, Recycled Glass Is the Ethical Jewellery Trend That Has Us Mesmerised
As POPSUGAR editors, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. If you buy a product we have recommended, we may receive affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work.
After looking through some of the buzziest jewellery trends of the season, there was one that really caught our eye — reclaimed glass. Ethical jewellery brands, like CLED and Annika Inez, have been using this easily recyclable medium to create some of the most beautiful, eco-conscious jewels we've ever seen.
Glass is largely composed of sand, which makes it natural and nontoxic. Jewellery brand CLED (which stands for Conscious Lifestyle Earth Friendly & Ethical Design) tells POPSUGAR, "We did not want to use materials like plastics, animal materials, and mined gemstones in our jewellery from the beginning." CLED was inspired to use glass after attending a beach clean-up and discovering the natural beauty of sea glass. "Sea glass is so beautiful but not easy to find, so we thought of recycled glass bottles, as this is everywhere and can be continuously recycled — unlike plastic — with no loss in quality or purity."
"I fell in love with glass because of its ability to be both bold and barely there at the same time. Both minimalist and maximalist." — Annika Inez
Chiara Zanardo, sales director at one of the leading global jewellery suppliers The Jewellery Showroom, is very fond of the industry welcoming elevated, sustainable uses for glass. "It makes the customer rethink the whole notion of luxury within jewellery," Chiara tells POPSUGAR. "We have seen an increase in stores asking for brands with sustainable credentials and upcycled materials, not just following a trend but with the aim of contributing positively to this wider movement of conscious living."
Much like CLED, NYC brand Annika Inez has been using ethically sourced glass in many of their designs. Founding designer Annika "fell in love with glass because of its ability to be both bold and barely there at the same time — both minimalist and maximalist." She tells POPSUGAR that "transparent hand-shaped glass has a visual quality of being frozen in time, looking like it might melt at any moment." Annika loves that glass is an amorphous solid, which means that it exists between the two states of liquid and solid. "I find that to be such a miraculous notion of nature," she adds.
Ahead, we've handpicked 10 of our favourite pieces from CLED and Annika Inez, starting at £35.
