Welcome to SSELWAL of Berwick

At Sselwal every member has their own style and produce lovingly made and sourced items to delight every customer, keep your eyes open for when the mini stores, Oceans View (Sea inspired jewellery), Hollys Cavern (Geo jewellery), Lunahs Lava (jewellery made from volcanic materials) have their new creations, always limited editions and one offs will pop up, a must have for every house.

Why does Sselwal.com have customer accounts?

Simple answer is so all the information required is stored in a safe manner, any payment details are held by 'Stripe' an external payment to handler, we have no access to any of this information. All the other information is held by Sselwal.com, we only use this information to

1 - Process your order.
2 - Make it easier and quicker for you to shop with us again.
3 - To able to check/confirm your order.
4 - to carry on with your shopping experience where you left off last time.
5 - To be able to request/order products which may be out of stock.
6 - To have your own wishlist.
7 - To be one of the first to hear about offers and discounts.

It just makes sense 

At Sselwal we work hard to offer you the best in our standards and ethics.

Ethical Policy.

Firstly we will supply a sterile wipe with every earring sale, this is so you can help make sure that the hooks or studs are clean. But please also consider your own practise in cleaning your jewellery.
Please also check that the method which you use to clean your jewellery is safe for your body and that you wont encounter any adverse effects.

Many customers are becoming increasingly conscious of ethical considerations when buying precious metals and gemstones.

As a responsible business we do everything we can to ensure that our products are sourced as ethically as possible, but this is not without its issues. This page sets out our ethical policy and highlights some of the problems currently facing the industry at present.

 

GEMSTONES

At the time of writing there are no established bodies that trace the gemstone supply chain from mine to market (unlike diamonds and metals), which makes fully transparent ethical sourcing very difficult. Thus a “fairtrade” gemstone does not exist as there is no independent body to oversee these standards.

Many gemstones are mined in a very small-scale way. Family groups or co-operatives are involved in digging or sifting alluvial river beds. The work has a low degree of mechanisation and high labour density and is often the only form of income for these groups of people. The issue with regulation is the sheer number of these small scale mining sites making it very difficult to trace exportation. Rough material is also mined from several different locations and put together so traceability becomes an issue.

Due to the differences between geographic, political and socio-economic conditions in gem producing areas it is very difficult to provide a solution. Boycotting buying stones is not the answer as many Small scale maining operations would suffer.

Governments can, and have, helped. For example there was evidence that militia groups in Myanmar were funding the mining of rubies and jadeite in the early 2000’s and the US government passed legislation banning the import of these products into the US (ban lifted in 2016).

Independent groups, such as the Responsible Jewellery Council, are also working with the jewellery and watch industry to promote standards.

In terms of our own gems our suppliers deal directly with global suppliers, who cut the gemstones from ‘rough’ material. They source the rough material themselves, either directly from mines or from rough dealers. Our dealer has been buying from these sources for years and are very trusted. They have visited their places and work and seen the conditions, which are good, but different to what we are used to in the UK. Some cutting is outsourced which means work can be carried out at home and the cutters set their own price for their work.

We do not have direct contact with the mines, however there are some companies which own mines, cut stones themselves and sell directly to the trade so full traceability would be possible.

 

DIAMONDS

The ethical situation regarding diamonds is different to that of coloured stones. In the 1990’s diamonds were used to finance rebel groups and militia in certain countries, hence the term “blood diamond” and “conflict diamond”. As a result the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was established by the UN General Assembly in 2003. The scheme strictly regulates and tracks the trade of diamonds and rough material  across borders from mine to customer. It should be noted, however, that it only extends to rough diamonds being sold to fund militia and not to other human rights issues.