A businesswoman is thrilled with the success of her “playful” line of jewellery – which is made entirely of recycled metal.
Manchester-based designer Sabira Silcock founded her sustainable brand SKEN Studios in the spring of 2020 with the intention of making the company as sustainable as possible.
Only using recycled materials, working with UK suppliers and always paying her staff a living wage, the mum of one has made SKEN Studios the sustainable company she always wished it would be.
When discussing her brand, she said: “Being a small business, I can be super granular about all the choices in the business and go one step further when it comes to sustainability.
“Not only do we use recycled silver and recycled cardboard boxes, for example, but I also shred our office paper waste and reuse that as part of our paper padding in our parcels.
“Although our jewellery is quite cheeky and playful, I take my responsibility to the environment very seriously.”
Sken – meaning to shine or glow in Swedish – is known for making playful and humorous pieces of jewellery for their customers. But aside from the shine and glow that her pieces have to offer, it wasn’t just this that made Sabira fall in love with making jewellery.
“I love the stories and the history that jewellery holds; whether it’s a gold wedding band or a pasta necklace you made at school. I love flipping the traditional narrative and using jewellery as a form of self expression.
“On a more practical note, I’m clumsy as hell. You can be rough with metal; it can be melted, drilled and hammered and then as if by magic, you end up with something shiny and gorgeous at the end of the process.”
“I’m most known for designing and making signet rings, which historically, were worn by men and used to wax seal important documents. However, the pieces I design are really fun and playful; and my customers are mostly young women.”
However, no matter how much SKEN Studios are doing to help keep their company sustainable, Sabira believes there is still much more to be done within the fashion industry when it comes to jewellery.
“I believe jewellery is often overlooked when discussing sustainability.
“Jewellery production can have a significant environmental impact, from mining raw materials, shipping the jewellery from overseas manufacturers, as well as unfair wages and unsafe working conditions for workers, which can be overlooked.
“It’s important to consider sustainability when purchasing jewellery, just as it is important for other fashion items. Costume jewellery is usually poorly made, which eventually leads to overconsumption as consumers inevitably have to re-buy items.”
In order to help combat overconsumption, SKEN Studios hold a “Zero waste sale” a couple of times a year on their website, where they use all of their oof-cut chunks of silver and turn them into on-off pieces of jewellery.
For more information on SKEN Studios and to shop their collections, visit skenstudios.com.
