WE ARE NOT HERE ONLY To MAKE JEWELRY
"AT MODA ELAN WE BELIEVE IN TRANSFORMING
high jewelry into a thriving force to restore and preserve the biodiversity, strengthen the social and cultural fabric and bring thriving economic growth for all the agents across the system.
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Ana Sierra
Founder and creative directorr
We are here to
CHANGE JEWELRY INTO A THRIVING FORCE!
AS AN ETHICAL DESIGNER OR RETAILER you know that the positive values ​​shared when buying or giving a jewel, such as happiness and prosperity, love and commitment are not always present upstream in the
supply chain.
NOT TRACEABLE JEWELRY can be tainted by human rights abuses, economic exploitation, cultural and environmental devastation upstream. Valuesless minerals and enslaving practices easily make their way to the markets trough opaque supply chains.
ETHICAL REGENERATIVE JEWELRY
At MODA ELAN we work to DIGNIFY the work of artisanal small scale miners and traditional jewelers from biogeographical Chocó.
CONNECTING them to ethical jewelry designers and retailers like you, we develop sustainable high value niche markets.
TOGETHER we can show the world the positive values of this powerful African heritage while
RAISING AWARENESS about the urgent need to save BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CHOCÓ.
Thanks to our allies, we contribute to REGENERATE ancient mercury tailings left by non regulated gold mining and we SUPPORT the RESTAURATION of the virtuos local circle of gold panning, jewelry and trade.
Photo: Jairo Barbosa
Photo: Juana Mendez
WEAVING STORIES To FREE
For centuries, the 22 K alluvial gold, delicately collected by hand from the beaches of the biogeographical Chocó rivers, went directly from the pan to the jeweler's workshop.
Biocentric practices such as the use of cyonidic plants to benefit the gold, protected the territory from contamination.
Gold was and still is for Afro communities, to adorn, to celebrate special moments in life but also to protect and enhance the family patromony.
But nowaday local gold is contaminated and running out, and the traditional jewelry local trade is shinking.
To help improving livelihoods, at MODA ELAN we weave new stable commercial relationships between you and the artisanal ancestral miners and jewelers.
This relationships are based on freedom, respect and transparence and propeled by education, excelence in service, and technology.
RASING AWARENESS
FOR THIS NATURAL JEWEL
BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CHOCO´s rich biodiversity and the pressing pressures it faces make it a strategic territory for conservation.
It is the world's ninth most biodiverse hotspot. It hosts 10% of the worlds biodiversity, nearly 3% (∼11,000 species) of all plant species, including ∼2,750 endemic species, in less than 0.2% of the Earth's land surface (IIAP 2011).
Its topographical elevations go from see level to the páramos at 13.000 foot above see level, hosting 9 different types of ecosystems.
It is the third region with the highest rainfall in the world, a key path for animal genetic interchange and nursery home to the yubarta whales during the summer months of the north hemisphere.
But, almost 20% of its territory has gold mining and 70% of it is ilicit! 75 animal species are threatened by this, 5 of them in danger of extinction (UNODC 2019). In 2019, in Colombia, it loose 14.500 Ha. of forests (Minambiente Col).
One of our priorities at MODA ELAN is to contribute to insert biogeographical Chocó in the global climate agenda.
To raise awareness, our ethical sourcing services for you include the revealing histories from the origin.
A powerful content for you to share with your final customers.
Photo: Alberto Sierra
Photo: Jairo Barbosa
KIPING ALIVE
THIS VANISHING HERITAGE
The overwhelming destruction of the biological and water wealth of this global lung, caused by unregulated mechanized mining, has also broken the fascinating social, economic and cultural fabric that gives life to artisanal ancestral aluvial gold mining and to Afro jewelry in biogeographical Chocó.
To support social development for the mining communities and environmental regeneration for their territory, at MODA ELAN we offer an additional incentive. Agreements with the Alliance for Responsible Mining and the Instituto de Investigaciones Ambientales del Pacífico (IIAP), lead this resources to specific projects.
To contribute to the transmission of the jewelry craft and the reconstruction of local cultural circuits, we try to incorporate young apprentices to work side by side with the maestros in the development of the commissions.
To raise awareness for a responsible jewelry and persuade final customers to buy counsciously, we created "Joyería para el Cambio", the monthly webinar about jewelry, ethics, sustainibility and innovation.
CONTRIBUTING TO A BETTER FUTURE
OUR COMMITMENT FOR AN ETHICAL REGENERATIVE JEWELRY includes working with fair, and eco friendly prescious minerals.
Your collections can be commissioned in SINGLE ORIGIN FAIRMINED GOLD or FAIRMINED SILVER from the mountains of Íquira, Huila. The same responsible source for the gold used to coin the Nobel Peace Prize Medal.
Fairmined is the assurance label that certifies gold and silver from responsible small-scale and artisanal mining organizations, audited from mine
to market.
Responsible artisanal mining represents an important development opportunity for artisanal and small-scale miners worldwide. By promoting their formalization and facilitating their access to fair markets, Fairmined helps improve their practices and generate positive change in their communities.
You can also preorder your collections in UPCYCLED SILVER from the plant of Metales Procesados in Bogotá, Colombia. It is recovered from the silver salts from X-rays, lithographs and printed photographs.
A circular process of urban mining that upcycles ​​waste materials and glorifies them making you a pioneer of circular jewelry.
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Photo: Ana Sierra
BUILDING
TRACEABILITY & TRANSPARENCE
To track gold and gems from mine to the end customer, we proudly support our operation in Provenance Proof, the digital, decentralised ledger, based on blockchain technology. It also brings your customers the histories of miners and jewelers.
To provide transparence and create shared understanding between you and the miners and jewelers, we act as administrator or executer of both.
Our working model promotes creativity and innovation, quality and compliance.
JOIN US!
INSPIRE YOURSELF with the centuries-old cosmovision of biogeographic Chocó gold and make yours the sophistication and mastercraft of this ancestral heritage WHILE SHINING with the positive values ​​of socio-ecological impact that your conscious choise brings upstream.
Together we can make THE CHAINS OF CHOCÓ, CHAINS OF FREEDOM.
