OUR MISSION

The Jaded Palette's mission focuses on human welfare, environmental protection and arts education. We are committed to act as a socially responsible company, on the theory that aesthetics and activism need not be mutually exclusive. On the contrary, we believe it is essential for consumers to make each and every purchase--irrespective of the amount involved--a means to speak truth to power. And by that we mean both political and corporate power.

    

In short, companies understand loss of profits, just as governments understand lost elections. If consumers vote with their dollars for sustainable, eco-friendly products, and are vocal in their rejection of sweatshops, child labor and environmental pollution, slowly but surely, change will occur.

 

The Jaded Palette is but one of many new businesses that have spurned the classical model of corporate success--earnings, dividends, profits, stock splits, more earnings-- and opted for a triple bottom line: people, planet and profits. Here, more specifically, is what we do.

 

For a start, we try to be good corporate citizens. We support the Better Business Bureau, follow Consumer Reports' guidelines for trustworthy web businesses, and belong to several Chambers of Commerce in our area. We buy local and sell locally as well; we use local banks and business services. We are involved in environmental issues close to home, particularly clean water,  fracking and alternatives to the decrepit nuclear power plant down-river. And we volunteer to help out: with the annual film festival, gallery-sitting, animal protection and farm issues. Then there is the broader picture, beyond our local goats and chickens.

 

 PEOPLE AND PLANET

 

We believe in the practice-what-you-preach approach. As a member of Green America's Business Network, we strive to use eco-friendly materials in our business, from non-toxic glues down to Forest Stewardship Certified paper products. (They can trace your business cards back to the actual trees felled for use in the paper). Our repurposing of old beads is our primary recycling activity, but to the extent we need new beads and findings, we purchase fair trade beads whenever possible, as well as recycled precious metals, which helps to reduce global mining of silver and gold. Mining activities world-wide take enormous tolls on both the human actors and the environment.

 

                                                                     

 

We offer free gift wrap, but ask our customers to recycle. We ship our jewelry in green mailers or boxes, and replace "bubble wrap" with 100% recycled post-consumer waste. Finally, we ask a little indulgence from our customers when they buy for themselves. If it's not a gift, we send our jewelry out in unattractive, used plastic bags. To read more on this seeming peculiarity, see our Packaging section under Shipping and Returns. Or just look at this photo of the great Pacific garbage patch:

 

  

We do not use organic beads--such as certain corals or abalone--that derive from any endangered or extinct species. We like the idea of beads with social history, buying sterling silver made in a former US munitions factory. Bullets into beads becomes the jeweler's version of swords into plowshares.

 

 Finally, to the extent possible, we use our jewelry as a forum to expound on the issues that concern us. Thus, our Yangtze Goddess Bracelet is a eulogy to China's now extinct river dolphins. They survived for over 20 million years--until modern industry came along.

 

                                                                     

 

The Jaded Palette donates a portion of each sale to environmental and humanitarian initiatives, so that each of our customers is a participant in helping to improve both planet and people. The activities we support include: eradication of child labor and sweatshops, a living wage through fair trade cooperatives, GMO labeling, clean drinking water for all, and an end to the pollution and destruction caused by fossil fuels. In our view the following organizations are particularly worthy of support:

 

                                 

 THE USE ON THIS WEBSITE OF ANY ORGANIZATION'S NAME, LOGO, OR OTHER IMAGE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR IMPLY ANY KNOWLEDGE OF, OR ENDORSEMENT BY, SUCH ORGANIZATION OF (i) THE JADED PALETTE; (ii) THIS WEBSITE, INCLUDING THE CONTENT HEREOF; OR (iii) ANY PRODUCT OR SERVICE OFFERED HEREUNDER.

POUSSIN TO PICASSO

 

We are equally passionate about the pursuit of artistic explorations. Our product descriptions include works of art, both past and present, because we find artistic connections through the ages fascinating. The first day of our first art history class we walked into a darkened lecture hall. On an overhead screen these two works of art were projected: a Henry Moore sculpture, and part of a Parthenon frieze. We were asked to consider whether there were any relationships between the two reclining women who were roughly 2000 years apart in age. This was, and remains, a riddle wrapped in a mystery. Nonetheless, we were hooked.

 

                                          

 

Artists have used recurrent motifs throughout the ages, the most common of which has been the human form. However, there have been repetitive stylistic embellishments as well. Thus, decorative dots have been used for at least 30,000 years in Africa, and later appeared in Asia, Europe and Australia. Seurat adapted same to create pointillism a century ago, and modern artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Chuck Close continue the tradition today. The question, then, is two-fold: what thematic tropes reappear consistently, and what stylistic conventions have been repeated, altered, modified throughout the ages.

 

                                                                         

To that end, we invite your consideration of  subject matter, color, form and decorative elements as they transcend historical periods and geography. In other words, we think it is a valuable exercise to examine and re-examine the synergies among diverse artworks that on the surface may seem unrelated. Placing art in context this way shows evolution, improvement, mastery, degradation, and greater or lesser degrees of skill and originality, thereby enriching our collective knowledge and appreciation.

 

That is the long answer. The short answer is much simpler. We love looking at art (and we include artifacts and personal adornment under that category), whether a Cycladic figure, an Ogata Korin screen or a Cezanne landscape. We hope our visitors enjoy it as well. If they--and we--become curious to learn more, then this part of our mission will succeed.