Greener Every Day

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When you think of green companies, you may not immediately think of jewelry. But John Hardy is absolutely a sustainable, environmentally focused company, and nowhere is that clearer than with their Bamboo Collection.

The John Hardy Bamboo Collection is inspired by nature and the wonder of bamboo. Bamboo is used in Bali for so many purposes – rituals, building, decoration, even fishing! It is a backbone of their economy and we saw it everywhere in Bali. It is no wonder this piece of island landscape is such a huge part of John Hardy’s identity. The company is very focused on their relationship with the surrounding community, as many of their employees come from it, and part of that relationship is making sure they limit their own impact on the environment and work toward making it healthy. Part of that promise involves bamboo: the prevalence of bamboo can spur the economy, and bamboo is also incredible for the environment – it limits soil erosion, grows quickly to offset carbon emissions, and helps maintain water levels.

In 2007, John Hardy began the “Wear Bamboo, Plant Bamboo” initiative, which allowed its consumers to help them plant bamboo by purchasing beautiful pieces of jewelry from the Bamboo Collection. This initiative has yielded 900,000 bamboo seedlings so far – in a space roughly 4 1/2 times the size of Central Park!

The pieces are special not only for their clean design and polish, but because each piece of jewelry is etched with the number of bamboo seedlings John Hardy was able to plant with the money paid. How wonderful to find a company creating such beautiful, peaceful designs and knowing that they work equally as hard to become greener every day…

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Below, an artisan begins working on a Bamboo Collection cuff, starting with the traditional French wax molding technique, after which the cuff is casted in silver and continues through the process of filing and polishing.

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#Wanderlust

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I‘ve always dreamed of traveling and I feel so very lucky that my job takes me around the world to be witness to and capture the wonder and beauty of different cultures, natural marvels, and lifestyles. One of our most recent journeys was to the island of Bali to shoot Cuyana’s summer campaign. We added a few days to the trip so we could truly experience the island, hosted by our friends and Bali natives at John Hardy who know the island so well. Staying at the Villa Campuhan was one of those pinch-me moments when your wanderlust dreams come true in the pure definition of paradise…we ate only the freshest food in an open air pavilion overlooking the Balinese ocean, we drank coffee with the sunrise and spent the hot afternoons swimming and reading. This special place fit right into LoveGold‘s summer of #wanderlust campaign… I can’t wait to see where other people travel to over the next few months and if they are lucky enough to be adorned in luxurious hand crafted gold like I was. Here is what I wore at the breathtaking Villa Campuhan…gold to match the sun, white to keep cool, anything to flow like the ocean and only bare feet ~

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Above & below John Hardy Bamboo Collection gold and diamond pave cuff and ring // MAIYET skirt & Ralph Lauren top

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