Responsible sourcing — we persist because we believe that these things matter.
Since our founding in 2006, we've travelled the globe to build new, evidence-based supply chains for the materials we use. We are focused on reducing the environmental impact of these materials while also striving for a more equitable distribution of value along the supply chain.
The AKARA brand includes gold, diamonds and gems and is a moniker of trust and integrity for materials sourcing. FTJCo's AKARA gold is included in the base price of all made to order designs, and blends certified recycled gold with Fairmined certified gold for a unique alloy with both social and environmental benefits.
Finding and using fully traceable, responsibly sourced gold is central to FTJCo's principles. The quest to source this material has come to inform all of the other materials we have used over the years.
Ours is a history of higher standards. From our beginning, we knew diamonds that used only the Kimberley Process for their conflict-free claims were not good enough. Over the years, we have found better sources and we continue that journey today.
The AKARA brand of gems offers provenance information that can include the country of origin, export or cutting, and often a date of export or gem lab certification.
Gold
FTJCo launched AKARA People + Planet, our blend of 50% recycled gold and 50% new content from artisanal miners. We are currently sourcing from Agromining Cooperative of the Municipality of Iquira in Colombia, under the Fairmined standard.
Premiering at the Hot Docs film festival, this documentary examines the murky world of gold trading across the globe. With scenes shot in the FTJCo studio, our staff members and clients talk about gold sourcing and why origin matters.
Watch Part 1 of the TVO Documentary
Watch Part 2 of the TVO Documentary
FTJCo, working with the NGO IMPACT, created the first legal gold supply chain connecting a conflict-afflicted area to North America. We offered this gold to clients via our new ‘50/50 FTJCo Blend’ of half Congolese 'Just Gold' and half certified recycled gold.
FTJCo travelled to Bolivia to tell the story of a mine certified under the Fairmined standard.
We are proud to have been the first company in North America to use and offer certified Fairtrade gold. Three years later, we were also the first to launch Fairmined certified gold in North America. FTJCo donated some of that first Fairtrade gold to the collection of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
We began sourcing artisanal gold from a small mining cooperative in Colombia in 2006. We visited them in 2008 and filmed the documentary "The Last Gold Rush" as they underwent their audit for Fairtrade certification.
We don’t cut corners on materials, processes or customer service; it’s not part of our culture.
Diamonds
FTJCo has partnered with Scientific Certification Systems to become the first jeweller to offer diamonds that are certified as socially and environmentally responsible and climate neutral.
FTJCo partnered with Swarovski, a company that shares our values, to launch Swarovski diamonds in North America. At the same time, Swarovski-cut lab diamonds became our standard selection for our small diamonds 3.5 mm and under.
We introduced some of the first artisinally mined diamonds that are mined, cut, and polished in South Africa. This allows much more of the economic benefit to remain in the country of origin.
We added vintage diamonds dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries as well as recycled diamonds to our selection of sustainable diamond offerings.
In this year we added lab grown diamonds to our offerings as an alternative to conflict-free Canadian diamonds, with the added benefit of a lower carbon footprint.
FTJCo launched with a commitment to use Canadian-origin diamonds. We partnered with Canadian diamond cutter Embee Diamonds to carry the Sirius Star.
The Sirius Star is the 'fine wine' of Canadian diamonds. Using a special cut they developed and patented, the people who produce the Sirius Star do so in a family-run cutting facility in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
Gems
Taking inspiration from the fashion industry’s use of dead stock materials in their supply chains, we began offering gemstones that pre-date the OECD’s guidance for responsible mineral supply chains, which was first published July 2011.
We found a passionate Australian gem cutter who sources from small scale miners in Central Queensland. We love the variety of colours this source adds to our AKARA offerings.
We began working with a company based in Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom, purchasing gems that they had mined and cut themselves through their partner company Crown Gems. This has allowed us to offer curated gems under our AKARA responsible sourcing label from a new country of origin.
We introduced AKARA Montana sapphires to bring these special North American gems into the AKARA label. These gemstones are precision-cut in the United States and gem lab certified.
We began working with one of the only vertically integrated responsible mines in Madagascar, with cutting operations in Mauritius. Working with GCAL gem lab, we pioneered origin reports for these first AKARA brand gemstones.
In 2017 FTJCo and our sister company, Consensas, partnered with Canadian NGO, IMPACT, on an initiative to bring legally mined gold from the Congo to the North American market; the project was given the moniker Just Gold. This special gold offered an impressive amount of documentation, data, and chain-of-custody, making it competitive with Fairtrade and Fairmined certified gold.
The following year we introduced our 50/50 FTJCo Blend of half Congolese Just Gold and half certified recycled gold. This unique gold blend captures the benefits of both a smaller environmental footprint (due to the recycled content), and fully-traceable, conflict-free artisanal gold that supports small-scale miners. We are the first company in the world to offer this unique gold alloy, and we have trademarked it as FTJCo’s AKARA gold. It is characterized as an equal blend of certified recycled gold and gold from artisanal small-scale miners. Today our AKARA gold blends recycled gold with Fairmined certified gold from Colombia.
