Gem Connection Susan Thornton

Meet Yasutomo Kodera of Nagano, Japan. Through his extensive American turquoise collection, his interest to foster the growth of Native American jewelers, and his own turquoise jewelry designs, Kodera has extended the interest and appreciation of turquoise to new horizons in Japan and beyond. 



Website: https://www.skystone.jp/



Kodera's book, The Turquoise Book, is available Amazon Japan, https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/%E5%B0%8F%E5%AF%BA-%E5%BA%B7%E5%8F%8B/dp/4846527255/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?crid=3A3EWXU9H2GRG&keywords=yasutomo+kodera+the+turquoise+book&qid=1700082804&sprefix=yasutomo+kodera+the+turquoise+book%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-1-fkmr0



A special thank you to Tristan Otteson. His family own over 40 turquoise mines in Nevada. Their website is www.ottesonbrothersturquoise.com

They have turquoise mining tours! 



And a special thanks to Seth Strohm for his expertise and incredible knowledge of turquoise. Instagram: @topgradeturquoise, website: www.topgradeturquoise.com

Turquoise has an ancient history and in today's episode we delve into trade routes, top-grade turquoise, American turquoise mine locations, and purchasing turquoise from reputable sources.



My guest is silversmith and lapidary Seth Strohm. Check out his website, topgradeturquoise.com, and be sure to follow him on 

Instagram, @topgradeturquoise. He has an incredible account! 



Link to 2018 study that some Aztec artifacts inlaid with turquoise thought to be from the American Southwest, were, in fact, mined in Mesoamerica. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aas9370



Thanks for tuning in. 



Please contact me through Instagram @gemconnectionpodcast if you're interested in the full list of resources used for this episode.

WD Lab Grown is a US material science company making the planet a priority. They're the first diamond company, in the world, to achieve 100% climate neutrality, and the first be certified by the SCS 007 standard as defined by SCS Global Services, a leader in third-party certification. This impressive material science company also neutralized their legacy carbon emissions 18 times. We'll get into the details of how they did it and the SCS 007 standard. Enjoy!

My guest is Brittany Lewis, Chief Marketing Officer for WD Lab Grown Diamonds, wdlabgrowndiamonds.com                     

SCS Global Services: scsglobalservices.com

ICIMOD: icimod.org

Lab grown diamonds have disrupted the jewelry market. Price and higher profit margins for retailers are contributing factors to their popularity. 

Because not all lab grown diamonds are eco-friendly, we'll discuss the new standard of sustainability for both mined and lab grown diamonds through SCS Global Services.  scsglobalservices.com

Lastly, we discuss how lab grown diamonds expand on the limits of some technology and the sky is the limit for it's many uses. 

My guest is lab grown diamond industry insider and leader, Marty Hurwitz, CEO and Founder of TheMVI based in Austin, TX. TheMVI has been monitoring the progress and growth of this market since 2004. themveye.com

Structural color and biomimicry are the subjects of this episode, and the blue morpho butterfly is a featured player in both. Structural color is how light interacts with the nano surface of a material - like a blue morpho butterfly wing, or the exoskeleton of an iridescent beetle. Biomimicry refers how science borrows from the natural world to create new technology. 

My special guest is the immensely stylish and interesting Genevieve Hudson-Price, actor and jewelry designer born and raised in NYC. As an actor, she is best known for her work on HBO’s The Wire, The Deuce, and The Outsider. Her jewelry line, Blue Morpho Jewelry, is comprised of one-of-a-kind pieces handmade by Genevieve using recycled metals and ethically sourced precious materials—often featuring real butterfly wings and spider webs encased in hand-carved crystal and gold, as well as real beetles. All of her butterflies come from sustainable butterfly farmers—never hunters. Her jewelry is available is available at ABC Carpet & Home, her website is bluemorphojewelry.com. 

Photo thanks to Genevieve Hudson-Price. 

Artisanal small-scale gold mining, shortened to ASM or ASGM, has workforce of 20 million and produces 16% - 20% of the gold annually! ASGM is also the largest global user and emitter of mercury. Mercury has been used for thousands of  years to extract gold, but the way miners use it produces low yields of gold, and miners don’t know the risks of using it.

My guests in this episode are working to formalize ASGM toward ethically mined, responsibly sourced gold with the purpose of reducing or eliminating the use of mercury while also addressing issues of health and safety, human rights, the environment and, public awareness.

Special guests:

Ludovic Bernaudat is Senior Task Manager in UNEP Chemicals and Waste GEF unit where he leads the technical team developing and implementing projects. He joined UNEP in 2015 and had been leading the developments of multi-agency programs including the planetGOLD program. Before joining UNEP, he worked for 12 years in UNIDO where he led projects on Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining, cleaner production and eco-cities. He led the development of the agency’s mercury program. Additionally, he has been the co-lead of the UNEP Global Mercury Partnership area on Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining since its inception in 2007. He has a MSc in Environmental Sciences and is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Susan Keane is the Senior Director of Global Strategies, in the International Program of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Susan is a public health specialist with over 30 years of experience working on domestic and international environmental health issues. Her work has covered a range of topics, and spanned several regions of the world. Most recently Susan has focused her advocacy on reducing global mercury pollution, particularly in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. She was directly engaged with governments during the negotiations of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, and is now working with the UN agencies, countries and NGOs to put the Convention into action. In particular, she is working with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UNEP on the GEF-funded planetGOLD program to reduce mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in eight countries. She is also the co-leader of the ASGM Area of the United Nations Environment Program Global Mercury Partnership.

Maggie Gabos is Lead Consultant for Christina T Miller Sustainable Jewelry Consulting. She has a demonstrated history of working across sectors towards improving the responsible sourcing and sustainability impact of the jewelry industry. She has a Masters Degree in International Development and Environmental Sustainability.

Elizabeth Chatelain is owner of MVI Marketing LLC a market research firm working exclusively in the worldwide gem, jewelry and watch industries. MVI provides market research, industry intelligence, and strategic analysis for companies within the gem, jewelry and luxury watch industries.

Websites for your continued research: planetgold.org, unep.org, fairmined.org, christinaTmiller.com, mercuryconvention.org, epa.org, thegef.org , artisanalgold.org, hooverandstrong.com, themveye.com

Photo credit: https://education.australiascience.tv/mercury-poisoning-from-gold-mining/