There is no excuse anymore, enough now, we all know about the plastic in our oceans and we know about how much water it takes to make a t-shirt. and where our jeans were made.

You do don’t you?

Argh! shame on you. If you are an aimless shopper who just likes buying for the sake of a quick fix then I urge you to Step up, wake up, and start becoming a conscious consumer. start caring where your ‘stuff‘,’ ‘your must haves ‘ and your ‘just cant live without one of those,’ actually come from, who is behind producing them and more importantly, are they being produced fairly and safely.

So as part of our Daadi project, I am actively seeking out some conscious producers or PLANET PIONEERS as I like to call them and where better to start but in my home country ESPANA.

Our Daadi website has had to wait until we can finish the work I was doing in India. I am still eager to source some products that I can share with you. Because of Covid, it is important to source close to home and to offer support to Pioneers keeping their businesses going in such troubled times.

Whilst on lockdown over Easter I decided to treat my daughter Meg and myself to some jewellery and came across Seahorse, a husband and wife team working in Alicante, Very helpful and easy to get hold of through their website and Facebook Page. We were delighted with our necklaces and proud that they were made from recycled glass straight off our local beaches. I love their story.

About Seahorse

Seahorse is an ethical jewellery company based in Alicante, Spain creating one-of-a-kind statement jewellery pieces.  It was founded by Lesley Elder with help from her husband (who prefers to stay behind the scenes!) and their 3 year old “mad mixture” short-legged furry friend Rambo. 

Lesley says:  “Being on the Mediteranean coast gives us access to lots of natural materials for making jewellery.  We were out walking Rambo on the beach one day, picking up bits of plastic rubbish along the way and we kept finding lovely pieces of glass. I said to my husband that I wanted to make a necklace with one stunning aqua coloured piece of glass we found and that’s kind of how it all began”. 

Lesley had previously commuted back and forth to the UK from their home in Spain  working as a project manager in financial services.  But being diagnosed with arthritis and then fibromyalgia meant the travelling and stressful job became too much.  She explains what happened next: 

“I had started to learn jewellery making, working mainly with silver and seaglass and as my health began to get worse I started to realise that I would prefer to stay at home and focus on making Seahorse a success”. 

The business was officially launched in October 2019 and is slowly establishing a reputation for ethical practices and creative design. 

“We make our jewellery mainly from seaglass, stones and pebbles found on our beautiful beaches, and whenever possible we use eco-silver.  Using sterling eco-silver (0.925) in our designs helps to minimise the damage to the environment that newly mined precious metals can cause, such as pollution to rivers. Eco-silver is genuine sterling silver, the only difference is that is has been recycled from existing products such as mobile phones” explains Lesley. 

Lesley continues: “We are now sending jewellery all over the world.  We have customers in the UK, Ireland, Holland, New Zealand, Sweden, France and, of course, here in Spain. I think people really value having something hand-made rather than mass produced in an anonymous factory somewhere.  And they know that there are no issues around low pay or unfair working practices because everything is made by us personally. Another great thing is that we use recycled materials in our packaging and we do re-use outer packaging that comes to us from suppliers. We minimise the packaging wherever possible so there won’t be any huge boxes arriving from us with a tiny box inside them and a load of plastic stuffing!” 

At Seahorse our Environmental & Ethical Policy is very simple: 

“Collecting items from the beach means that we see the damage caused to the sea by plastic pollution nearly every day.  We are strong advocates for the environment and avoid using plastic in our jewellery or packaging. We regularly conduct beach cleans when we are out searching for the amazing seaglass that forms our unique jewellery pieces. We aim to source locally and use the lightest possible packaging to minimise our carbon footprint wherever possible. We strive to limit our impact on the environment.  If you think there is more we can do please let us know!”  Seahorse founder Lesley Elder 

When you buy Seahorse jewellery not only are you buying something unique with its own story and character but you are helping us continue to do our bit for our beautiful planet.  Thanks for visiting and we hope you will fall in love with our jewellery and become another cherished Seahorse customer. 

Check them out; https://myseahorse.co.uk/

Do you try and buy consciously? Leave us a comment and let us know your tips for buying sustainable products. We can bring more awareness and that has to be a good thing, Right?

I shall be bringing more products and sharing them on my blog to bring awareness and to spread the word of sustainability. If you are a small business and would like me to feature you on my blog re- Planet Pioneers, there is no charge, I just want your story to share. However you may want to buy me a coffee as it is for a good cause.

If you enjoyed this article please buy me a coffee, All the proceeds will be going to The Sacksham project in India to help the kids get back into school.

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