Doing Our Part
MetaMorph Jewelry Studio is a small, independent jewelry brand located in Pittsburgh, PA. focused on creating finely crafted, heirloom quality jewelry. With every step forward, we ensure that we are conducting business in the most sustainable and eco-friendly way within our means. Let's go over what we're doing to help make a positive impact on our local economy and our planet.
Carbon Neutral
With every order we ship out a small percentage goes to non-profits working to offset emissions by planting trees.
Plastics
We do not use plastics in our jewelry designs. Why? Because we believe in heirloom quality, handcrafted products made with materials that are more likely to stand the test of time and stay out of landfills. Disposable culture has taught us that precious metals and high quality handcrafted goods are more likely to be cherished and passed down through generations, but can also be exchanged for money vs. items that are crafted with cheaper materials like plastics, that the consumer will most likely throw away when worn out. By reducing our use of plastics we can all help to reduce the overall need and production of plastics, but also reduce the amount of plastics that inevitably end up in landfills that pollute our environment. We recycle & reuse all plastics that our supplies arrive packaged in, and we only use biodegradable plastic baggies in select jewelry packaging, and when necessary to ship our products. We use kraft boxes, bags and packing paper as well as non-coated paper tags & cotton filled boxes for packaging that are all compostable. We also offer a selection of heirloom quality gift boxes for purchase that are meant to stay with the jewelry over time and be inherited someday along with the jewelry.
Materials
All of the jewelry for MetaMorph is fabricated in our small jewelry studio located in Pittsburgh, PA. We work with precious metals, gemstones, glass, fibers, leather and vintage dead stock supplies. One thing we steer clear of as much as possible is PLASTIC. We focus on designs that use high quality materials that are valued by our customers, and that are more likely to be cherished and not end up in a landfill. All of the precious metals we use in our designs are purchased recycled, and all of our gemstones are ethically sourced from several reputable gemstone dealers. All of the packaging that we pack/sell our orders in is biodegradable, and/or reusable like our muslin drawstring bags, heirloom quality gift boxes and our leather earring tags meant to be repurposed into leather key fobs. We use recycled kraft paper shopping bags, no plastic bags here!
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
We recycle or reuse all paper, plastic & aluminum that makes its way through the shop. We also reduce our waste by implementing seemingly small policies like printing copies double sided, and allowing customers to opt for emailed receipts. In energy use, we ranked "silver" for the Sustainable Pittsburgh Shop audit. Unfortunately we do not own the building our jewelry studio is located in, and are unable to make many energy efficient updates that the building needs.
Fair Wages
In order to create a healthy and productive work environment at MetaMorph Jewelry Studio, the products that we fabricate in studio are priced to ensure that we are able to provide a living wage to all employees, with opportunities for growth. Making jewelry by hand out of raw materials is a lot of hard work. Our skilled and dedicated staff put that work in because they love what they do, but also believe in building an economy of small, creative, sustainable businesses focused on quality, not quantity and unsustainable growth.