Blog Guest Star: Deidre Woollard of Sparkle Smart

This week's post features two blogs written by fellow Blogger, Deidre Woollard-jewelry aficionado and philanthropist. On a recent google search, I came across her blogs about Ruff&Cut as well as her accounts on green jewelry, rare gems and the effects of mining on the earth and communities. After reading her posts and then making contact with Deidre, it became apparent that she shares the same values and views on utilizing business to make the world a better place. I am pleased to share these posts with you, as well as a link to her blog. Thanks Deidre!

Sparkle Smart Hero: Ruff & Cut

Ruff & Cut jewelry's website is pretty much what I would consider the standard for jewelry accountability. For each piece you can not only find the price easily and how much of the price is given to their nonprofit partners, but for each piece there is a complete list of sourcing. Such a simple thing, that the jewelry's "ingredients" be listed as matter-of-factly as a nutritional label. And yet it's something that is rarely seen. We are often asked to trust a website that says their products are green but Ruff & Cut gets specific , noting where the diamonds come from.

Ruff & Cut is dedicated to helping the people of Sierra Leone and redeeming Sierra Leone diamonds. Stones mined there once caused great harm to people, now these stones can do great good. For every piece sold the company donates 10% of their profits to their nonprofit partners working in Africa to improve the lives of those affected by mining and jewelry manufacturing. During their launch event, Oct 16th - Nov 16th, they are bumping that number up to 20%. The piece shown above, the Transparence necklace was designed by Deirdre Featherstone and sells for $18,700. It features a .72-carat round brilliant-cut diamond and eight rough diamonds with a total carat weight of 5.5. set in 18K gold.

Ruff & Cut Jewelry Line Launches

Posted Oct 17th 2008 11:02AM by Deidre Woollard
Filed under: Jewelry, Charity, Green

It may be, as the Wall Street Journal's Heard on the Runway column put it, a "challenge in this economy to launch a high-end jewelry line" but it is one I suspect that Wade Watson of Ruff & Cut can handle. I had a chance to listen to Watson speak earlier this year at the Fair Trade Jewelry Conference and was impressed by how passionate he was about both the country and the people of Sierra Leone and the good diamonds can do there. For Watson it's a personal mission to help lift up this country which is one of the richest in natural resources but the poorest in so many other ways.

The Ruff & Cut name refers to the mix of both rough and cut diamonds used in the designs. Designers such as Me&Ro, Tracy Matthews and Todd Reed each have their own collection under the Ruff & Cut brand. The jewelry uses recycled gold and "conflict-free" diamonds coming from Sierra Leone and Canada. Many of the rough diamonds come from the Pride Diamond mine in Sierra Leone. Each piece comes with a certificate of origin. For every piece sold the company donates 10% of their profits to their nonprofit partners working in Africa to improve the lives of those affected by mining and jewelry manufacturing. During their launch event, Oct 16th - Nov 16th, they are bumping that number up to 20%.

The Nobel Ring shown above features a 1.35 carat rough diamond with a free-spinning center band studded with brilliant-cut diamonds weighing 0.27 carats total. It sells for $10,500.

Highest regards,
Wade Watson