We've been working with gold filled wire and parts for 10 years now and have always loved it for it's subtle gold color...not too yellow and not too shiny. We're the subtle and minimal bling kinda types, yeah!

Ten years ago, before the 'Big Bang' of minimalist jewelry labels, gold filled was quite unknown at this side of the Atlantic. Originally an American invention during the big depression of last century, it is still a very economic way of wearing precious, long lasting gold jewelry.

What is gold filled?

Gold filled is a material with a thick layer of 12 or 14kt gold mechanically fused onto a brass core with pressure and heat. Sort of a laminate. By law the amount of gold is 5% of the total weight of the item. This layer will not chip and will often take anywhere between several months to a lifetime to wear off. In comparison: most gold plated items have less than 0.01% of gold and might wear off in a matter of weeks.

For all you visually talented people out there, this is what that looks like (not to scale):

How sustainable is gold filled jewelry?

Most of our gold filled materials and parts are manufactured in the USA, therefore adhering to American laws for environment and production processes. No child-labor and unfair working conditions, we may assume.

On top of that...we've been digging in our suppliers' manufacturing info and were delig