Jewelry production involves processes that can span continents, making traceability a very challenging exercise. We want to be the one-stop shop for an ethical, sustainable and responsible jewelry. AVGVST produces origin-assured jewelry using only sustainably sourced, responsible local materials. AVGVST is on its way of achieving 100% Responsible Gold and Silver purchasing, a first occurrence for a local Russian jewelry brand. We purchase gold and silver bars at the National Bank of Russia (Sberbank): gold bars sold at Sberbank are either ethically mined at local gold fields or are recycled jewelry pieces. We believe in traceability of precious metals and its careful use, as well as responsible mining. In 2020, showing a strong commitment to ethical practices, AVGVST launched the ‘Recycle Bar’ initiative in our flagship store in Ekaterinburg: clients can exchange their old and unloved gold and silver jewelry on AVGVST pieces equivalent to the estimated market gold value of their pieces. AVGVST would then re-use the collected jewelry, re-melting, re-designing and repurposing the material giving it new life. With this initiative, AVGVST reinforces its pledge for sustainability, traceability and to reducing its environmental impact.
Diamonds are sourced from Alrosa (the leader of the world diamond mining industry, a Russian diamond mining company) and certified by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) ensuring the transparency of the diamond supply chain. Alrosa promotes ethical practices, human rights, environmental protection and good management practices.
We believe in fair trade and relationship with the artisans we work with. Our atelier in Ekaterinburg employs over 20 highly skilled jewelers. In 2020, AVGVST launched its first ever leather goods collections created in a collaboration with a local atelier in Florence. While still looking for a vegan alternative to leather, AVGVST chose to use vegetable tanned vachetta leather. Hides are tanned using natural and biodegradable materials, such as oak, and the tanning waste is later on used as biological soil fertilizer.
The usage of local materials – precious metals, diamonds, semi-precious stones and leathers – helps us not only to support local artisans and businesses, but to minimize the carbon imprint as well.