Sustainability & Social Responsibility
Eco friendly packaging
The first step has been to be as conscious as possible about packaging. We keep our packaging 90% made of paper so you can recycle when you receive it. Some of it is even made with recycled paper, we really try and source materials which will be as eco-friendly as possible.
Kodes jewellery pieces come packaged this way, to be as sustainable as we can be
- They are wrapped in golden or grey recycled tissue paper by Tiny Box (you can purchase it at https://www.tinyboxcompany.co.uk/p/9211247/recycled-golden-tissue-paper-240-sheets-small.html) together with a paper business card printed by Moo or Vistaprint.
- It’s then inserted in a paper bag (a bit like a candy bag)
- The bag is closed by a paper sticker made by MTO Stickers https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MTOstickers
- The bag is then inserted in a Eco Bubble Envelopers where you can easily detach the bubbles and recycle the paper envelope (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0093JXAVK)
Wood and air miles offsetting
What’s better at offsetting wood than a tree?
When your beads are all made of wood (as well as silicone and acrylic plus all the air miles to get the materials delivered), the best way to give back to the environment is planting a tree.
So I’ve started a little forest with Treedom, a company that plants trees all over the world and lets you follow your trees’ progress, including looking exactly where the tree is located and sending you photos.
To offset wood consumption and carbon, I’ve planted 8 trees since 2017, you can view some of the photos in the gallery on the right as well as follow my progress as I plant more by visiting my page on Treedom.
Not only these trees will act as offsetting, every tree brings social and financial benefits to the farmers who plant them, to their family and to their local community.
Find out where KODES’ trees are planted around the world!
Chartity contributions
Every year I pick a charity affiliated to the LGBTQA+ community and donate £1 from each sale from my LGBTQA+ collection.
In 2021 I plan will be donating to GIRES (a UK wide organisation whose purpose is to improve the lives of trans and gender diverse people of all ages, including those who are non-binary and non-gender) and Feed London (Feed London, by the UK charity Miracles, will support 1000s of children and their families during the school holidays in 2021).
In 2020 I’ve been donating to Alopecia UK, a charity supporting Alopecia sufferers like me, but also many children, something I didn’t have when I was diagnosed with Alopecia at 12 years old.
In 2018 and 2019, I’ve been donating to ASA Milano, a charity offering information, testing and support towards AIDS patients.
In 2016 and 2017 I have been donating to Mermaids, a charity that offers family and individual support for gender diverse and transgender children and young people.
Why LGBTQA+?
My journey into jewellery making, made me realise I have started making statement jewellery to be bold and express myself. Having Alopecia (no hair) has meant I had no way to do so through my hair. Jewellery has become my outlet for the creativity I can’t express through styling my hair.
I’ve also realised why I’ve always felt so close to all those people who are coming out and their every day struggle. Coming out is not the destination, it’s a massive toll road of the journey. It took me so many years to finally feel free, without any worry or anxiety, to tell people that I wear wigs. I can only imagine how hard it is for the ones who want to do the same about their gender – or to avoid doing so when questioned.
