Luna Tree

Handcrafted Vegan Silver Jewellery

About Us and how it all Began…

Established in 2007, Luna Tree is run by Clare McCormack.

Clare’s career path after graduating from art college took her into retail management and to the role of a buyer for a Fair Trade homewares and gift company, travelling extensively through South East Asia and West Africa. It was during these buying trips that contact with the silversmiths was established. Luna Tree continues to work with the same community today.

Collaboration and Creativity

Clare works closely on the designs with the silversmiths on her visits to Thailand. Many designs are pure Clare. Some designs are a mix of Clare’s ideas and the silversmith’s creativity. While some are pure Karen Hill Tribe designs. Not quashing their creativity is something which is important to the central focus of the business, along with the Fair Trade ethics on which Luna Tree is run.

Nature is the consistent source of inspiration for the jewellery, both for Clare and for the silversmiths.

The Karen people live in harmony with the natural world. Working as subsistence farmers they have a very spiritual connection with their land. The hand worked fine silver these Hill Tribe artisans produce has distinctive organic look, weight and feel all its own. While every Luna Tree customer has a special connection directly back to the silversmith who created each item.

Elephant Stampede…

During trips to visit the silversmiths and to work on new designs Clare started to visit Elephant Nature Park and volunteer here. ENP is a sanctuary in Northern Thailand for Asian elephants and many other rescued animals. ENP is a place where the elephants gain their freedom from servitude and can live out the rest of their lives naturally. ENP left a huge impression with Clare after her first visit there in 2009.

In 2010 Clare met Lertsark, the elephant artist on her trip to Thailand that year and added a small range of reproduction paintings to the Luna Tree repertoire. The elephant artworks range has expanded considerably since this first order, and profits from their sales are donated to the Save Elephant Foundation. This is the charity which funds ENP and both were founded by Sangdeaun Lek Chailert.

ENP also work on Fair Trade principles and only serve vegan food to their volunteer guests. A place where people, animals and the land are all looked after. A true utopian place which is incredibly special.

Finding Luna Tree..

Luna Tree is based in Chester, North West England. Providing beautiful silver jewellery and artworks, designed and made from the heart to both retail and wholesale customers. Shipping worldwide, our full product range is available direct from us via this website or selections are available from our wonderful independent stockists within the UK, Europe and the USA. We also sell directly and in person via market stalls and events at various locations around the UK. Please keep in touch with all Luna Tree goings and if we will be at an event near you, connect with us on our social media platforms.

Our Ethics

A Fair Trade Ethos is the Heart of Our Business

Our Ethics are extremely important to us and form the very foundation on which our business is built.

Luna Tree is a registered member of BAFTS. BAFTS is the network of independent shops and suppliers dedicated to promoting Fair Trade retail in the UK. Luna Tree is recognised as an Importer of fairly traded goods.

We work on a basis of total transparency from our producers, as designer, importer, wholesaler and retailer to our customers. We create a personal link from one end of the chain to the other. Working directly with our silversmith community ensures the shortest possible supply chain.

We have been registered continuously with BAFTS since 2009. Find out more about BAFTS

The 10 Principles of Fair Trade are set by the World Fair Trade Organisation (WFTO) and BAFTS is a member of this global Fair Trade community. These 10 Principles of Fair Trade form the basis for all BAFTS members and how we work with our producers.

How We Operate

Our core ethos is one of sustainability, transparency and working as ethically as we can.

We pay upfront for all our orders, firstly with the value of raw materials so production can get underway. Ensuring that workers are paid as parts of the order are completed. Any final balance of the order is paid on completion and all shipping costs also covered in advance.

Working with our producer community directly on the design of our ranges we actively encourage and promote their individual creativity. Empowering the silversmiths to harnesses their creativity and skills to bring their talent to the global market.

Luna Tree endeavour to help reset the balance between developing communities and the developed world. Helping the whole community to benefit from the partnership we have together.

Gender Equality

All the families involved in silver production within the village have a mix of both male and female workers. Both the men and women receive the same pay for the same work undertaken. Gender equality within Karen Hill Tribe communities sees all aspects of work undertaken by males and females equally including farming. Production always fits around other duties such as harvest time, festivities and childcare which further empowers the women producers.

We visit our producer village roughly once a year to develop new products, observe production and to catch up on all aspects of village life. This enables us to be positive regarding working conditions and practices of our producers. The work of silver smithing can only be undertaken by artisans with the skills gained after adequate training and therefore we can be absolutely certain that no child labour is ever used.

Our Environmental Policy

Sustainable environmental practices are extremely important to Luna Tree.

We aim to run this business with as much kindness for our planet as we can possibly manage….

Continually, we endeavour to reduce the amount of all consumable office products by minimising waste by evaluating operations and ensuring they are always running as efficient as possible.

We purchase our electricity from a green renewable energy provider.

There is no pollution of the environment with chemicals during the silver production process. No waste material is created as all the silver off cuts etc can be reused. We endeavour to use as much recycled silver as possible at point of ordering. Hand tools are mainly used in production of the silver. Sustainable environmental practices have been developed within our production village with the use of solar panels enabling the village to run generators in the evenings for light etc.

Ethics

As a dedicated Vegan and lifelong animal rights advocate, we do not use any animal based products in our ranges. Nor are any tools used in production which are derived from animal products. All our products are 100% Vegan.

We are an accredited member of the Vegan Traders Union. The Vegan Traders Union is a community of independent Vegan run businesses working together to support and promote each other.

You can find out more by visiting Vegan Traders Union

We are also members of Vegan Founded

Zero Waste Packaging

We are proud to provide all our products in 100% zero waste packaging. Our jewellery gift boxes and leaflets, along with the mailing boxes and the paper tape used to seal them can all be recycled. The jewellery comes in protective clear bags made from potato and corn starches. These bags can be landfilled or composted without environmental impact. Leaving no trace is especially important to us as a company and not adding to plastic pollution a huge priority.

Our artworks are wrapped in paper and cardboard.

We are continually looking at ways to improve our ethical performance as a business and to reduce our impact on the earth.

Every little step in the right direction, no matter how small, can make a huge difference!