4 Things That Make Handcrafted Jewellery Extra Special

Beautiful, Ethical, Handmade. It's words we live by at Harfi. We wanted to go a little bit deeper into why handcrafted jewellery is just so special. From the story of each piece, to ethical materials, there's so many reasons to be buy artisanal crafts, and we hope you enjoy our little list!

1) Every piece is unique

Everyone loves to be unique, and with handcrafted jewellery every single piece that is made is unique in its own way. We think this gives every piece of jewellery a story of its own that you can build on as you wear it and add some story of your own.

Every piece being one of a kind is so fantastic as it means that everyone that gets a piece gets an item that is just as unique as they are. This also makes it the perfect gift to be giving to a loved one (or a liked one), as it means that there is no one else in the world with a gift just like theirs.

You can read more about the stories behind some of our gems used in our gemstone jewellery here

Handcut and handset using a natural gemstone, the colour and patterns for our gemstone jewellery such as the Idika earrings featured here will differ slightly from piece to piece making each one truly unique

2) Supporting local businesses

One of the best ways that small and local businesses are able to compete with larger shops is through the quality of their work. There’s no comparing a piece made by a machine to a piece that has been lovingly handcrafted by an artisan. 

Supporting a local business is also much better for the environment, as there is much less shipping and packaging, and small businesses tend to be much more environmentally conscious when it comes to their materials. We’ve also been so happy to see the rise of slow fashion, which stands against fast fashion brands and encourages shopping less, and shopping local and ethical. For high-quality jewellery, artisanal and hand-crafted is the way to go.

You can read more about how supporting artisanal production can support the makers and transform local communities here

All of our jewellery pieces are ethically sourced directly from our artisan partners in Jaipur, India ensuring that they are paid fairly for their work

3) The highest quality

Hand-crafted means high quality, most of the time. We’re not going to say that every handcrafted piece of jewellery is better than every piece made by machine, but we don’t think it’s too far off. 

You just can’t beat the quality that artisans put into their work. Their expertise is something that has been developed over years of working with their materials and tools. It’s something that more often than not is passed down through family or community, so many of our artisans were inspired by family members who had dedicated their lives to their craft.

You can read more about Shabnam, who was inspired by her father to start down the path of a jeweller, here.

At Harfi, our jewellery pieces combine contemporary design with traditional techniques for making that have been passed down through the generations. More often than not, the artisans behind the handmade products have dedicated their entire lives to honing their craft. 

4) Ethically sourced materials

The fast fashion phenomenon has wreaked havoc on the environmental impact of the fashion industry as a whole. Artisans are well known for being much more aware and understanding of the impact they have on the world around them. They know what the effect of using too much plastic packaging can be, and they do what they can to avoid it.

That’s why we think artisans are so great for making the efforts in choosing ethically sourced materials for their work, and why you should help them continue to do so.

You can read more about the importance of sustainable materials here

Our artisan partners use locally sourced, sustainable materials, such as the natural gemstones featured here, without the application of heavy machinery meaning that the carbon footprint and the affect to the environment during the production process is as low as possible

You can view our entire ethically jewellery collection here