Silver Tree Designs
Silver Tree Designs is a fair trade company that works with artisans in Peru to produce beautiful handmade sterling silver jewelry out of recycled butterfly wings.
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Silver Tree Designs is a fair trade company that works with artisans in Peru to produce beautiful handmade sterling silver jewelry out of recycled butterfly wings.
The butterfly wings that are used to make this jewelry come from two places. Most are collected from the warm tropical region of Peru in the Amazon basin, where they are bred in large netted enclosures. The collection of the wings are a byproduct of the breeding, which also attracts local tourism to the area and ensures bio-diversity and research of the butterfly species. The butterflies are not killed for the wings, their lifespan is usually short and they are collected when their life comes to an end, making it sustainable. It also enables the generation of income in rural Amazonian communities, which since the decline in the logging industry, have suffered immense depression and poverty.
Other wings to supplement those from Peru, are collected right here in the US. Butterfly houses are popular tourist destinations, as well as for releases at weddings and special functions. Silver Tree Designs is trying to establish more relationships with butterfly farms in the US to get more exotic wing colors and ensure the sustainability of the jewelry.
In Lima Peru, a group of talented jewelry makers are hand crafting Silver Tree Design's butterfly jewelry line. Working with sterling silver or nickel, each shape is hammered out by the master jewelry maker. It has taken many years for him to perfect this art, ensuring that each piece is consistently the same size and shape. Once the form has been made, acrylic glass is cut and the wing is mounted inside. Once completed, each piece of jewelry is buffed and polished until it is shiny and perfect.
It is important that each artisan constantly receives training, learning new aspects of the art, so every bit of the production process is known. This is as each artisan is indebted to all members of the group and its success, as each member is a part owner of the company.
The butterfly wings that are used to make this jewelry come from two places. Most are collected from the warm tropical region of Peru in the Amazon basin, where they are bred in large netted enclosures. The collection of the wings are a byproduct of the breeding, which also attracts local tourism to the area and ensures bio-diversity and research of the butterfly species. The butterflies are not killed for the wings, their lifespan is usually short and they are collected when their life comes to an end, making it sustainable. It also enables the generation of income in rural Amazonian communities, which since the decline in the logging industry, have suffered immense depression and poverty.
Other wings to supplement those from Peru, are collected right here in the US. Butterfly houses are popular tourist destinations, as well as for releases at weddings and special functions. Silver Tree Designs is trying to establish more relationships with butterfly farms in the US to get more exotic wing colors and ensure the sustainability of the jewelry.
In Lima Peru, a group of talented jewelry makers are hand crafting Silver Tree Design's butterfly jewelry line. Working with sterling silver or nickel, each shape is hammered out by the master jewelry maker. It has taken many years for him to perfect this art, ensuring that each piece is consistently the same size and shape. Once the form has been made, acrylic glass is cut and the wing is mounted inside. Once completed, each piece of jewelry is buffed and polished until it is shiny and perfect.
It is important that each artisan constantly receives training, learning new aspects of the art, so every bit of the production process is known. This is as each artisan is indebted to all members of the group and its success, as each member is a part owner of the company.
