18kt gold and cornflower blue sapphire one-of-a-kind ring, £5,200, Alex MonroeWennick knows first-hand how badly artisanal miners are treated by some governments, which is why he only buys directly from artisanal miners and has the stones cut in his own factory in Sri Lanka.
It’s a far cry from the way gemstones are usually sold, going through dozens of hands before they end up in jewellery. Counterintuitively, these beautiful untreated sapphires in a kaleidoscope of colours pay the miners less than the stones that end up being treated do.Fernando Jorge, a Brazilian jeweller based in London, is also deeply concerned with where his materials come from.
Read more on telegraph.co.uk