Greg Valerio, the founder of Cred Jewelley in 1996 to pioneer responsible mining practices in the jewellery industry, has been awarded the MBE in the Queens New Years Honour list 2016 for his work in Fairtrade Gold and with gold mining communities in South America and Africa. 

In a statement Greg has expressed his gratitude for the award and hopes that fair-trade gold will now become more commonplace in the industry. The statement below is from Greg regarding the award of an MBE in the Queens New Years Honour list 2016 for his work in Fairtrade Gold and with gold mining communities in South America and Africa. 

‘I am aware of the contradiction associated with receiving honours as a result of doing what can simply be called ‘The moral and just thing’. How is it that 150 million small-scale miners earn less than $2USD a day?  How can it be that the people of the land do not receive the wealth of their land? Instead this wealth flows principally to transnational stock market listed companies and brands, whose only care is for their profit margins.’ 

‘The conceit of luxury jewellery is to ignore this injustice at its source. This is why we need fair trade in jewellery. Fair trade in gems and jewellery will mean transparency, traceability, social, economic and ecological justice through the entire profession. Currently this is not the case in the jewellery profession.’ 

‘Jewellery and justice are not incompatible and lost to each other. The great challenge we now face is to forge a new luxury jewellery narrative that connects the aspirational emotion of the purchase with the dignity of the source. This is true luxury jewellery, a legacy of peace, justice and prosperity for the communities at the source and a continued celebration of design, creativity and love in the gift that is given.’