FTJCo
Our Story
We were founded as the Fair Trade Jewellery Co in 2006. Today we are proud to be an Employee-Owned, Living Wage company hand making custom jewellery in Toronto from sustainable materials.
Rainbow Registered
The FTJCo team celebrated Pride Month 2024 with an exciting new certification: Rainbow Registered! This means we are accredited as a 2SLGBTQI+ friendly business by the CGLCC, Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce. This certification indicates that we’ve met a stringent set of standards to ensure that 2SLGBTQI+ clients and employees feel welcomed and accepted at FTJCo. Becoming Rainbow Registered formalizes our long-standing policy of acceptance and inclusion, celebrating love between all folks, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Parliament Launch
In the summer of 2023 we formally launched our Parliament collection of everyday jewellery made in sustainably-sourced 14K gold and sterling silver. This marked a new chapter for FTJCo, because we’d previously focused on fine jewellery made in 18K gold and platinum. After years of clients (and staff!) asking us to make ‘everyday’ jewellery with the same level of care and attention to sourcing but at a lower price point, we launched Parliament with a collection of ultra-wearable earrings, necklaces, and interchangeable charms. We celebrated the launch with a party in our store in late July.
We are not currently offering Parliament for sale.
Celebrating 10 Years as a BCorp
March 2023 marked our 10th anniversary as a certified Benefit Corporation. Co-Founder Robin Gambhir & Head of Production Kesha Frank sat down to mark the occasion and reflect on this milestone achievement.
Climate Neutral Jewellery
In 2021 we began partnering with SCS, a global leader in sustainability certification, to develop a new standard for certified Climate Neutral Diamonds; this certification launched in 2022 and we are proud to offer our clients third-party certified environmentally-friendly diamonds. The team at FTJCo is continuing to pursue our goal of fully climate neutral jewellery, and are working with SCS to bring certified Climate Neutral Gold to market in late 2025..!
Living Wage
The FTJCo ‘fair trade’ philosophy extends to all aspects of our business, whether that’s ensuring the workers who extract the gold and gems we use are fairly compensated, to considering compensation for our team here in Canada. Toronto is an expensive city, and keeping up with inflation can be tough for workers. In 2021, FTJCo formally became a Living Wage company, certified by the Ontario Living Wage Network. This means that our staff salaries reflect what people need to earn to cover the actual costs of living in our community, instead of relying on the minimum wage set by the Province of Ontario.
Employee-Owned
It had been co-founder Robin Gambhir’s longterm goal to transition FTJCo to an employee-owned model, and in mid-2022 this vision was realized. Participating in our Employee Share Ownership Program (ESOP) allows employees to share in the success of the company, enjoy greater economic and professional agency, and have input in key business decisions and developments.
FTJCo’s Branding Refresh
After 10+ years with our original peacock logo, a new home for FTJCo inspired us to give our branding a fresh look in early 2022. With input from our community, we established a new tagline, too: Fine jewellery with integrity.
576 Parliament St.
Having outgrown our original storefront and studio several times over, by the end of 2021 the company was ready for a bigger space. Thankfully a new home was well underway, only a block and a half north at 576 Parliament St.
In early 2022 FTJCo moved into our newly custom-renovated heritage building, which has allowed our team to grow further. Given that transparency is one of our core values, we installed a massive glass wall between the storefront and studio spaces, so that clients can see where their jewellery is made by our talented goldsmiths.
Supporting Food Security during COVID
The FTJCo team identified food security as a cause we wanted to address during the COVID-19 epidemic. Between 2020 and 2021, FTJCo donated a portion of our sales to food banks local to our clients, or to other causes close to their hearts. Through this initiative, we have proudly donated over $34,000 CAD.
AGTA Spectrum Award
Each year the American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) hosts the Spectrum Awards, inviting entries of fine jewellery made with coloured gemstones and cultured pearls. In 2020 our lead designer, Kathleen Kerr, won the Gem DIVA Award for Bridal Wear with a unique sapphire and diamond ring, made by our goldsmiths in the FTJCo studio.
United Nations Global Compact
We joined the UN Global Compact in 2020 to begin the process of aligning our business with measurable, sustainable development goals. Just like when we became a BCorp, these are early steps on a long journey.
As of 2022 we are pursuing Sustainable Development Goals within the context of the Responsible Jewellery Council. Click here for more info about our Certifications & Affiliations.
Kesha Frank at OECD
In April 2018 our Head of Production, Kesha Frank, travelled to Paris to address the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The topic of her talk was gender equality in the jewellery and mining supply chain. While the jewellery industry has traditionally been an ‘old boys club’ FTJCo is proud to have a staff of all female goldsmiths, and company-wide our team is 90% women-identifying.
YWCA Women of Distinction Awards
FTJCo was approached to re-interpret the YWCA’s Women of Distinction award in 2016. Given that supporting women is a core value for FTJCo, we were honoured to take on this opportunity.
Every year since then we have been proudly making the Women of Distinction award pins, which we donate to the YWCA.
‘JUST GOLD’ PROGRAM
In 2017 we partnered with NGO IMPACT and FTJCo’s sister company, Consensas, to make the first legal import of Congolese gold to North America for the Just Gold project.
The following year we introduced our ‘50/50 FTJCo Blend’ of half Congolese Just Gold and half certified recycled gold. This unique gold blend enjoys both a smaller environmental footprint, thanks to the recycled content, and fully-traceable, conflict-free artisanal gold that supports small-scale miners. This special gold alloy would later come to be branded under FTJCo’s AKARA label.
Today our AKARA gold blend is made from certified recycled gold and Fairmined certified gold from Colombia. Click here for more info on our materials.
Our First Store
In the autumn of 2008 our founders signed a nine-year lease on the first physical home of FTJCo at 523 Parliament St. in Toronto’s historic Cabbagetown neighbourhood. With a shop in the front and our studio in the back, clients could see (and hear!) their jewellery taking shape right on location.
The early years
FTJCo was first conceived by Robin Gambhir and Ryan Taylor as a wholesale business. They intended to provide retail jewellers with responsibly sourced ‘Oro Verde’ gold from Colombia, the precursor to Fairtrade certified gold. But as it turned out, retailer interest in responsibly-sourced gold was quite low at this time. Confident that the consumer demand was there and growing, the FTJCo founders pivoted to take their business directly to consumers.
Our expertise
We specialize in engagement rings and wedding bands made within our ‘best practices’ framework of using both environmentally and socially responsible sourced materials. In addition to bridal and engagement, we take on custom jewellery projects, jewellery repairs, and source diamonds and gemstones.
We pride ourselves on our excellent customer service, and know that word-of-mouth referrals from happy clients make up a large portion of our business.