Ethics & Ethos

Materials               

Our pieces are made for a lifetime. Designed to be chosen well and worn often.

We embrace noble metals such as silver and brass and respect their true raw nature. The silver we work with is mined in the island of  Java, Indonesia. We aim to work with recycled silver or ethically sourced in Indonesia in the future.

We choose not to work with gold plating due to its short length of life and intensive chemical process. We encourage all our clients to believe in the honesty of raw materials. We only do plating by custom request.

We provide green eco tips to encourage and educate you on how to keep your jewelry looking its best for years to come.

 

Circularity

By working towards a circular economy, we aim to create zero waste. Our thoughtful handmade process naturally lends itself to minimizing waste. We believe in making one piece at a time, we don’t overproduce stock.

Many of our designs are thought and developed to use every off-cut piece. 

These pieces are classified, weighed and remelted to create new pieces or taken to metal recycling facilities here in Bali. 

Circularity is an indigenous concept. Circularity is not about technology, it is about culture. It’s about how we are designing those systems. - Céline Semaan, The Slow Factory

 

Slowing Down

The cycle of producing trends for fast consumption needs to be broken in the fashion industry. We believe in taking a step back, and producing high quality, unforgettable and one-at-a-time pieces that you will cherish. Design that unifies ethics with beauty, and ultimately represents you both ideologically and style wise.

Slow Fashion is a worldwide spread reaction to fast fashion. It’s thoughtful, intentional, and holistic. It’s also an argument for hitting the brakes on excessive production, overcomplicated supply chains, and mindless consumption. All the points that we try to hit on Padmala Atelier.

 

Atelier

We work with local artisan who are building their own small manufacturing workshop. We collaborate hand by hand in creating processes that are more beneficial to them and to us to grow as businesses. We believe in continued and shared learning, both from traditional making and education backgrounds. Fusion of popular and educated knowledge is the key to our business development.

 

People & Community

We understand our vision will not be achieved single-handedly. That’s why we network with other upcoming designers to learn from each other and discuss how to make better jewelry businesses. We also keep close relationships with our clients, to offer them the best experience of getting a Padmala Atelier piece that will represent them to the world. 

We operate a friendly, safe and respectful environment. While building our own atelier, we work with great artisans, learning from their customs and processes and always respecting their work, timeline and price points.

 

Packaging

Padmala Atelier went on a deep search in Bali to create packaging that can be reused, recycled, or composted. 

Our exclusive box is made by organically sourced bamboo, without any chemical treatments. Our maker is a well-respected sustainable Indonesian, woman-owned business that has taken this project as a challenge. The design was perfected after several meetings to understand bamboo technology. Handmade, every box is unique and has a particular texture due to the bamboo’s changing fibers. The box is finished with a water based chemical-free coating. 

The inside cushion is hand sewn with silk velvet. We are moving towards working with natural blue indigo dye. 

Pure natural luxury.

 

Growth & Goals

We are not perfect and believe that business transparency is key. In this transformative time, we firmly believe that our voice as citizens and humans must merge with our creative and business endeavors and we unapologetically amalgamate our ethics with our commerce across all platforms.

We have a deep commitment to the earth and socially-conscious practices.

We believe in doing a lot with a little. We are a small business and we intend to stay small and close to our craft.

We are constantly pushing the boundaries of our business, always evolving and shifting to keep ourselves as kind and authentic as possible. We believe in continued learning, so we are always open to suggestions.