Girl's best friend gets ethical sparkle

Adrian, who runs Adrian Ashley jewller's studio in The Old Printworks, Tarrant Street, Arundel, said a visit from a BBC documentary film-maker made him think about the long journey the stones he uses in his bespoke jewellery have made from mines in Africa.

Adrian said: "The documentary-maker Simon Reeve came to see me about six months ago about having a ring made for his fianc.

"He insisted that he only wanted fairly-traded diamonds to be used and it made me think more about where my stones are coming from.

"I tried to find the most ethically-sourced stones that I could and the more I looked into it, the more I found out about the poor working conditions that some of the miners and others along the chain are under and how money from illegal stones is used to fund civil wars.

"I could see that if nothing is done to change this then wearing diamonds could soon be as socially unacceptable as wearing fur or ivory."

Adrian's response was to launch his Better Deal Diamonds range of diamond jewellery using the most ethically-sourced diamonds he can find, which come a dealer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Adrian said that this dealer had been working out of the country for the last 10 years and is involved in every link in the supply chain and can guarantee each stone is licensed and legitimate.

Adrian also said that a proportion of the profits from the sale of the diamonds is re-invested into the local community to help improve working conditions at the mines and fund community development initiatives.

"Most of the stones I use come from other sources," said Adrian. "The Kimberley process of registration has cut out a lot of corruption from along the chain and tries to stop the stones being used to fund civil wars but my Better Deal Diamonds range goes a step further."

For the moment the range comprises four different pendants each costing 250.

Adrian said the cost of these diamonds to the customer is about the same as other stones as there are fewer links in the chain and so fewer people making a profit.

A topical issue, the diamond trade is also the subject of a new film starring Leonardo DiCaprio called Blood Diamond.

Visit www.adrianashley.com for more information on Adrian's Better Deal Diamonds.