Written by Christy Santo & Melissa Stewart
Cliptomania.com
Bamboo Jewelry started by Christine Gonsalves
and Steve King opened its doors for business in 2005. A major driving
force behind their company goals is their effort to have the lowest
carbon footprint possible Along with their ten to twenty employees,
they are not just focused on creating quality necklaces, pins and
earrings, but are also on being an environmentally friendly company as
possible. Endangered wildlife and global warming are two things very
important to Christine and Steve.
Two years after forming Bamboo Jewelry, the company decided if they
couldn't cut their carbon footprint to zero, they would offset it by
buying carbon credits making Bamboo Jewelry the world's first carbon
neutral jewelry company. They have incorporated compact fluorescent
bulbs and eliminated air-conditioning, instead turning to fans to keep
everyone cool and comfortable. It doesn't stop there. The
self-sustaining and fast growing Bamboo wood is the basis for their
jewelry boxes. They also incorporated paper tape and use non-toxic,
bio-degradable plastic for shrink wrapping. Even the paper printed cards
within the box uses recycled paper, from a duplex printer. They can
print 100,000 pages generating only five pounds of waste verses 157
pounds of typical waste from a regular laser printer. Future
eco-friendly goals include purchasing a new company car - a hybrid
Aptera that will get 300 mpg - and remodeling their facility so it runs
on solar-power.
Celebrating Nature
Each piece of
jewelry's design celebrates a small part of nature, art and science.
Almost all the silver used as the base of their jewelry repurposed or
recycled, and they are striving for 100% recycled. Using finely braided
wire to create each cloisonne
color cell, they can do multicolored blending which results in their
three-dimensional contours and realistic shading, hallmarks of their
splendid craftsmanship. After the original artwork is complete, the
sample pieces are carefully packed and mailed to China so artisans there
can reproduce them.
Who's Who At Bamboo
Steve King is a fifth generation Californian with degrees from Yale in Art and Environmental Studies. When he is not designing jewelry, he enjoys his work as a scuba instructor or organizing whale watching expeditions to Baja, Mexico. Steve has also helped create a life
-size whale sculpture, and notably, produced an hour long, prime time documentary aired on ABC on blue whales which won an Emmy for its cinematography.
Chrstine Gonsalves comes from a family of entrepreneurs. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley with a MA in sculpture. Before she began Bamboo Jewelry nine years ago with Steve, she began a company called Whales and Friends that is a popular Alameda, California gift ship that has been around for 20 years. Her interests include cats, orchids, art and nature. Christine splits her time between Bamboo and Whales and Friends, and is even known for bringing her beloved Tonkinese cats, Carson and Sagan, with her.
Cliptomania.com has sold earrings by Bamboo Jewelry since 2006. Featured in our
Specialty and
Animals The overall quality and attention to detail of these earrings is amazing, and we are sure our nature loving customers will appreciate these fine, heirloom quality, clip on earrings.
Sources:
bamboojewelry.com
cliptomania.com
