At Kate & Kole we pride ourselves on the transparency around the origin of our products and how we make our products.
On our products pages, you made see at the bottom of the description, something like this:
How this piece is made
- Pendant made from up to 70% recycled gold
- Chain manufactured in Melbourne
- Finished and assembled by hand in our Newcastle Studio
This helps explain how each component is created and how the whole pieces comes together.
Throughout our site we talk about "Using a combination of state-of-the-art and traditional jewellery making processes" we want to further help explain this to you.
Our notes, explained
Made from up to 70% recycled gold - Our caster have estimated that new casts are made up of 60-70% recycled gold.
"In terms of ethical practises, we can guarantee that the gold we use is either from our refinery which processes jewellers scrap or fresh metal from Australian mines or reputable bullion dealers in Australia or Europe that are all accredited."
Chain manufactured in Melbourne - Our simple silver, 9ct solid gold and silver filled 9ct gold chains are made for us by a family run business in Melbourne.
Finished and assembled by hand in our Newcastle Studio - this piece is finished and assembled by hand by our team of jewellers in Newcastle. Finishing refers to taking the piece from a raw cast to a finished piece using jewellery tools, sandpaper and hand held motorised tools.
Stone set by hand in our Newcastle Studio - the stone has been set by our team of jewellers in Newcastle.
Stone set by hand by our master setter - we have a specialty setter based in Brisbane who sets our more complicated pieces.
Finished and assembled by hand by our master jeweller - we have a specialty jeweller based in Brisbane who finishes and assembles our more complicated pieces.
Finding from Australian supplier - Finding refers to a component of the jeweller that is often purchased, rather than handmade, such as an earring back. We have Australian suppliers who are our first choice for findings.
Finding from overseas supplier - Finding refers to a component of the jeweller that is often purchased, rather than handmade, such as an earring back. We have overseas suppliers we work with when our Australian suppliers are unable to supply a component.
Stones from Australian supplier - These stones have been purchased through one of our Australian suppliers who we work closely with to choose ethically, and where possible Australian, sourced stones.
Pearl from overseas supplier - Pearls are often purchased from regions outside Australia. We source our pearls from Japan, China, Indonesia and Australia.
Imported piece - This refers to a piece we have imported in the instance where we are unable to make it, or source it in Australia.