Ethos & Approach

Nothing tells your story as beautifully and enduringly as jewelry. Fine jewelry pieces should be worn day in and day out; gathering meaning as the years roll on like moss on a stone. Gold is an exceptional material: it's one of the only metals on earth that's chemically inactive and therefore it never tarnishes or corrodes. Quite literally, it lasts forever. Knowing your Borealis jewelry will accompany you always, I have made every effort to approach this work with thought, care, and intention so that it's in alignment with our shared values. The unique approach of Borealis can be summarized through three lenses: how it's made, how it's sourced, and how it manifests.

 

Image: raw sapphires from the Spokane Sapphire Mine near Helena, Montana. By James St. John

 

How it's Made

Less than 1% of all jewelry in today's market is handcrafted (I learned this from one of my instructors at jewelry school who'd worked as a diamond setter for Tiffany & Co for over a decade). These days most jewelry is designed using computer software programs such as CAD and CAM, and then printed using 3D printers. While this technology allows highly complex designs to be achieved with a minimum of time and energy invested, I believe machine-generated jewelry is missing an essential ingredient: the energetic imprint of the human being who has poured their heart and soul into bringing a piece of jewelry into being. I take great pride in being among the small minority of jewelers keeping ancient handcraft traditions alive. Every piece that leaves the Borealis studio has been made by hand using ancient goldsmithing techniques that hail from antiquity, including hand-forging & soldering, and lost wax carving & casting. 

How it's Sourced

Sustainable sourcing is at the heart of Borealis. All of my designs are handcrafted using recycled gold and precious gemstones of known origin. I source precious metals that are post consumer recycled, with a majority of the gold I use being SCS certified. This means that the gold in my pieces has not been mined contemporarily, but rather processed from material that's already in circulation - there is plenty of gold that's already been extracted from our planet! I also reclaim metals in house, for example when a client sends me outdated family heirlooms to rework into new, relevant jewelry designs. 

Sapphires are my gemstones of choice, especially for commitment designs. There are so many reasons to adore sapphires! Firstly - they are beautiful, sparkly, mesmerizing & downright magical!!! Sapphires occur naturally in a rainbow of colours, from classic white to pretty pink to earthy green, to the elusive peachy padparadscha named after the lotus blossom, to the classic cornflower blue, and more.

Secondly, sapphires are incredibly durable, coming in at 9 out of 10 on the Mohs scale, which measures the hardness of various stones. Only precious stones - diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds - score 9 and higher, and in fact it's their hardness that makes them precious relative to all the other gems. This means that sapphires set into jewelry will hold up against wear and tear over millennia, and will not be easily scratched, discoloured, or otherwise damaged.

Finally, unlike diamonds, which require really aggressive extraction techniques (e.g. blasting), and are often associated with social impacts (i.e. blood diamonds; child labour, etc) - sapphires are mined from the shallow gravel deposits of ancient riverbeds and floodplains. Typically, sapphire mining is done using simple mechanical methods - ranging from hand tools to diggers and bulldozers. Once the gravel is collected, it's sorted, with the sapphires being much heavier than the host rocks and soils and therefore sifting out. That's it! Once they're sorted the sapphires are ready to be polished and cut into spectacular, one of a kind gems.

All of the Borealis commitment range features known origin sapphires; which means the gems can be traced from mine to market. We work with sapphires from mines in Australia, Montana, USA, and Sri Lanka. Each of these three regions is known for extremely stringent mining regulations that protect the sapphire deposits from being depleted; thereby protecting future generations and keeping the environmental impact small by distributing mining activities across the landscape.

How it Manifests

Have you ever seen jewelry that is thousands of years old? I recently visited the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to see their collections of ancient jewelry. I was deeply moved by seeing rings, necklaces, and earrings that are thousands of years old and remain incredibly beautiful, relevant, singular, and impactful. It is my goal to create jewelry pieces that will be equally enduring in their beauty, relevance, singularity, and impact. In addition to thoughtful sourcing to ensure longevity, I've designed the Borealis range to be timeless and transcendental and meaningful, taking you from the mundane to the elevated; rising above trends. Jewelry that is powerful because its essence shows so clearly. Jewelry that feels good in all the right places - body, heart, mind, and soul. Jewelry that is earthen and elemental, to wear always and forever.