WE ARE NOT HERE ONLY To MAKE JEWELRY
"AT MODA ELAN WE BELIEVE IN TRANSFORMING
high jewelry into a thriving force to restore and preserve the biodiversity, strengthen the social and cultural fabric and bring thriving economic growth for all the agents across the system.
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Ana Sierra
Founder and creative directorr
We are here to
CHANGE JEWELRY INTO A THRIVING FORCE!
AS AN ETHICAL DESIGNER OR RETAILER you know that the positive values ​​shared when buying or giving a jewel, such as happiness and prosperity, love and commitment are not always present upstream in the
supply chain.
NOT TRACEABLE JEWELRY can be tainted by human rights abuses, economic exploitation, cultural and environmental devastation upstream. Valuesless minerals and enslaving practices easily make their way to the markets trough opaque supply chains.
ETHICAL REGENERATIVE JEWELRY
At MODA ELAN we work to DIGNIFY the work of artisanal small scale miners and traditional jewelers from biogeographical Chocó.
CONNECTING them to ethical jewelry designers and retailers like you, we develop sustainable high value niche markets.
TOGETHER we can show the world the positive values of this powerful African heritage while
RAISING AWARENESS about the urgent need to save BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CHOCÓ.
Thanks to our allies, we contribute to REGENERATE ancient mercury tailings left by non regulated gold mining and we SUPPORT the RESTAURATION of the virtuos local circle of gold panning, jewelry and trade.
Photo: Jairo Barbosa
Photo: Juana Mendez
WEAVING STORIES
For centuries, the 22 K alluvial gold, delicately collected by hand from the beaches of the biogeographical Chocó rivers, went directly from the pan to the jeweler's workshop.
Biocentric practices such as the use of cyonidic plants to benefit the gold, protected the territory from contamination.
Gold was and still is for Afro communities, to adorn, to celebrate special moments in life but also to protect and enhance the family patromony.
But nowaday local gold is contaminated and running out, and the traditional jewelry local trade is shinking.
To help improving livelihoods, at MODA ELAN we weave new stable commercial relationships between you and the artisanal ancestral miners and jewelers.
This relationships are based on freedom, respect and transparence and propeled by education, excelence in service, and technology.
RASING AWARENESS
FOR THIS NATURAL JEWEL
BIOGEOGRAPHICAL CHOCO´s rich biodiversity and the pressing pressures it faces make it a strategic territory for conservation.
It is the world's ninth most biodiverse hotspot. In only 2% of our planet surface, it hosts 10% of the worlds biodiversity, nearly 3% (∼11,000 species) of all plant species, including ∼2,750 endemic species, in less than 0.2% of the Earth's land surface (IIAP 2011).
Its topographical elevations go from see level to the páramos at 13.000 foot above see level, hosting 9 different types of ecosystems.
It is the third region with the highest rainfall in the world, a key path for animal genetic interchange and nursery home to the yubarta whales during the summer months of the north hemisphere.
For centuries, almost 20% of its territory has had gold mining. Unfortunately, after the 90s in the past century, most of the extraction has been irregular and mechanized. Ilegal gold extraction has devastated the forests and poisoned the rivers; 75 animal species are threatened by this and 5 of them in danger of extinction (UNODC 2019). In 2019, only in Colombia 14.500 Ha. of tropical rainforests was lost to ilegal gold extraction (Minambiente Col).
One of our aims at MODA ELAN is to raise awareness about the urgency to preserve biogeographical Chocó and the cultural heritage of its people.
To help raise awareness, our ethical sourcing services include sharing the fascinating local stories from the origin with you.
A powerful content for you to share with your final customers.
Photo: Alberto Sierra
Photo: Jairo Barbosa
KIPING ALIVE
THIS VANISHING HERITAGE
The overwhelming destruction of the biological and water wealth of this global lung, caused by irregular mechanized gold extraction, has also broken the fascinating social, economic and cultural fabric that gives life to artisanal ancestral aluvial gold mining and to Afro jewelry in biogeographical Chocó.
To contribute regenerating this fabric, most of our work is done directly in the towns where the jewelers are, bringing a positive economic and social impact.
Also the premium payed over the price of gold is destined to support projects to regenerate biodiversity. Like "Restaurando" a project that is trasnforming a previous mine site moving mercury-laden tailings from past mining activities to a safe, technically managed site, regenerating it into an exemplary environmental site.
To contribute to the transmission of the jewelry craft and the reconstruction of local cultural circuits, we try to incorporate young apprentices to work side by side with the maestros in the development of the commissions.
To raise awareness for a responsible jewelry and persuade final customers to buy counsciously, we created "Joyería para el Cambio", the monthly webinar about ethical jewelry, ethics, sustainibility and innovation.
CONTRIBUTING TO A BETTER FUTURE
OUR COMMITMENT FOR AN ETHICAL REGENERATIVE JEWELRY includes working with fair, and eco friendly prescious minerals.
Your collections can be commissioned in 18K or 22K SINGLE ORIGIN CHOCO HAND-PANNEDECO- GOLD. This kraft has been a trdition for more that 5 centuries and is usually practiced by women artisanal ancestral miners.
SINGLE ORIGIN CHOCO GOLD is carbon neutral ar its source, mercury-free, thus bringing transparency and traceability to the opaque gold supply chain and reducing pressure on natural resources.
Thanks to the premium over the gold payed by our clients, we also contribute to projects that regenerate soils degraded by mercury tailings caused by previous irregular minig practices.
Photo: Ana Sierra
BUILDING
TRACEABILITY & TRANSPARENCE
To track gems from mine to the end customer, we proudly support our operation in Provenance Proof, the digital, decentralised ledger, based on blockchain technology. It also brings your customers the stories of miners and jewelers.
Our working model promotes creativity and innovation, quality and compliance.
JOIN US!
INSPIRE YOURSELF with the centuries-old cosmovision of biogeographical Chocó gold and make yours the sophistication and mastercraft of this ancestral heritage WHILE SHINING with the positive values ​​of socio-ecological impact that your conscious choise brings upstream.
Together we can make THE CHAINS OF CHOCÓ, CHAINS OF FREEDOM.
