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inspiration2021/09/29

Amy Russell Taylor x Sea Shepherd: Protecting Our Oceans

by Wolf & Badger

British jewellery designer and member of our Wolf & Badger community, Amy Russell Taylor, has collaborated with Sea Shepherd, the non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organisation, to create a collection inspired by the ocean. Each piece in the collection tells a story of our shores and reefs through shape and texture, calling us to contribute to protection and conservation of our oceans. We caught up with Amy to find out more about the collaboration.

Could you explain to us a bit about yourself and your brand? 

Well, in a nutshell I’m a wife and mum of three… Two humans and one business! Becoming a mother was always my biggest passion and it was when this dream became a reality that I discovered my second passion… Jewellery. I really do feed my brand with the same love and morals as I raise my children with. Any mother knows that it’s a 24/7 role that’s the hardest yet most rewarding. That’s just how it is for my brand. 

Your collaboration with Sea Shepherd seems like the perfect synergy of your core values and design inspirations - could you explain to us how this came about? 

It was almost like it was meant to be. I watched the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy while I was in the middle of working on this collection. I felt compelled to somehow link this collection to helping our oceans on a larger scale. After doing some research into Sea Shepherd, who were highlighted in the film, I discovered that there was a mutual connection! The executive producer is the founder of another company that I was talking to about a partnership. When I learnt he was also a partner of Sea Shepherd, it was a no brainer! They put me in touch with Sea Shepherd and the rest is history. I’m so pleased it all came together like this and gave the collection a deeper meaning. 

Where did your original concept come from for the collection before Sea Shepherd’s involvement? 

I’ve always wanted to design a collection inspired by the sea but up until now I couldn’t see how I was going to position it. I didn’t want it to be clumsy or something that had been done time and time again. It needed to be my interpretation. I was playing around with melting down some old jewellery when I kind of discovered I could make these beautiful shapes that, to me, looked like they’d come out of the ocean. So then the collection just began to take on a life of its own. I could have kept going with it forever. I have so many variations in my head but you’ve got to stop somewhere. Watch this space in the future!

Can you please tell us a little more about how elements of The Sea Shepherd collection were created. For example, some of the pieces include vegan pearls, where are these sourced from? 

During communications with Sea Shepherd we learnt of their core values, including promoting veganism, so it was crucial for us to align this collection to those core values. I won’t lie, it was a little tricky trying to discover a vegan alternative to pearls and we looked into many options. I eventually had the idea of using ceramic as a potential material and managed to find Ana at Abalon who creates vegan porcelain candles. We explored the best way to create the pearls using porcelain and were thrilled to find a ceramic solution where each piece is individually handmade, allowing us to pioneer and replicate traditional pearls of the highest quality, sustainably. 

What other sustainable elements are at the core of your brand? 

All our pieces are handmade to order using recycled gold or silver which ensures we meet our zero waste policy. Our packaging is also fully recyclable or compostable. We’re really proud to have our studio powered by Ecotricity, Britain’s greenest energy supplier and we also offer our customers the ability to offset their carbon emissions incurred from shipping at checkout. We’re always trying to educate ourselves on sustainable projects and practices and we’re wholeheartedly committed to leaving a positive impact on the world rather than a negative one. 

What’s next for Amy Russell Taylor, do you have any further activity planned with Sea Shepherd?

We hope that our relationship with Sea Shepherd will stick around forever and we’re excited to see what the future holds for our partnership. I’ve no doubt there will be more to come! We also have some other very exciting partnerships in the pipeline which we should hopefully be able to tell you more about next spring!