Jungle Berry News
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Handcrafted Beauty
In this part of the Jungle Berry website, you can find out more about how our fair trade jewellery and other ethical products are made. Jungle Berry products are handcrafted in the Brazilian Amazon and Mexico, two contrasting areas with different craft and jewellery-making traditions.
But when it comes to sourcing producers and selecting materials to create Jungle Berry's ethical products, the same values underpin our approach no matter where we are.
Sustainable production methods are at the heart of what we're about. We use naturally occurring materials wherever we can, like the berries, seeds, woods and natural fibres in our fair trade jewellery. But they've got to be recycled or sustainably harvested - that's a non-negotiable for us.
In the world of jewellery, there's a growing move towards appreciating genuine quality over superficial sparkle, to valuing true beauty over bogus bling. More and more, people want to know the story behind the jewellery they wear. And items made by hand bear something of the person who made it.
Read on to discover more about the sustainable materials used in our fair trade jewellery, and the techniques used to create them.
The Acai Berry
Sustainably-sourced Acai (pronounced A-sigh-ee) Berries are used across Jungle Berry's fair trade jewellery ranges.
The Acai Berry is a small, purple fruit that's incredibly nutritious and rich in antioxidants. In Brazil, the berries are harvested to be made into smoothies, drinks and even ice-cream. The hard berry husk or seed that remains is then usually discarded. And normally, that would be that.
However, Jungle Berry artisans in the Amazon rainforest retrieve and recycle these seeds for use in our unique fair trade jewellery ranges.
The berries make beautiful, lustrous and fully robust seed beads. For Jungle Berry artisans, working with recycled berries also provides an incentive to value the standing rainforest and its sustainable riches, not felled trees or cleared land.
For examples of how the Acai Berry is used in Jungle Berry's fair trade jewellery, check out the Long Paxiuba Necklace, the Daisy Twirl Bracelet or the Ethnicity Collection's Puca Earrings.
Rainforest Silver Rings and the Tucuma seed
Jungle Berry's Rainforest Silver Rings provide another example of our sustainable approach to fair trade jewellery-making.
Although they may look like wood or coconut, these fair trade rings are actually made from a cross-section of the Tucuma fruit seed, once again sustainably harvested in the Amazon rainforest.
The Tucuma fruit is yellow, and just like a mango, the seed lies in the middle of its orangey flesh. In fact, breakfast in the Amazon often consists of Tucuma on fried bread.
The seed cross-section (as seen here) is left to dry. Once hardened, the seed is then polished down and lined and inlaid with silver to create these elegant, natural and highly original fair trade rings.
And interestingly, the size of the seed is what determines the size of the ring; these are rings uniquely crafted by nature and man!
Fair Trade Rugs
Jungle Berry's ranges of fair trade rugs are handwoven using naturally dyed wool.
The dyes we use are sourced from assorted local plants, flowers and other natural elements, following traditions that have been around for hundreds of years and well before the arrival of the conquistadores in Mexico.
Using natural dyes gives our fair trade rugs beautiful, vivid tones that synthetic dyes simply don't attain. And as these dyes naturally fix extremely well to wool, we don't need to use a chemical mordant, or fixer, to hold in the colour.
Vegetable Ivory
Vegetable ivory (or Tagua as it's known in the rainforests of South America) is a seed that comes from the Phytelephas genus of palm tree that grows in the Amazon rainforest.
The vegetable ivory seed is extremely hard, it can be carved, it can also be polished very well, and it rapidly adsorbs colourants, so it can be used in a variety of ways. Tagua is one of the many sustainably-sourced seeds used in Jungle Berry's fair trade jewellery.
So how is the seed harvested?
Under the leaves of the Tagua palm trees grow big clusters of fruits. Each fruit contains a number of seeds. As the fruit matures on the tree, the interior of the seed hardens, taking on a striking similarity with elephant ivory.
When the fruits fall to the ground, the seeds are collected and the seeds are left to dry and harden further. Once the seed's dark skin is removed by polishing, the beautiful creamy white interior is revealed. It's a process that's completely sustainable and eco-friendly. With vegetable ivory offering an eco-friendly alternative to
elephant ivory, there's a win-win situation emerging. Help save the
rainforest and the elephant at the same time!
To see how Tagua is used in our fair trade jewellery, just check out the gorgeous Tucuma Earrings, the Dolce Vita Necklace or the Long Whirlpool Necklace.
