Decolonising Gold: A Community Conversation with Dr. Tehmina Goskar and Arabel Lebrusan MA (RCA)
The history of gold is a complex tapestry woven with threads of beauty, power, exploitation, and cultural significance. As jewellers in the modern-day context, it’s our responsibility to understand the background of the precious materials we use and examine them through a critical lens.
In November 2024, we invited Dr. Tehmina Goskar and Arabel Lebrusan MA (RCA) to lead an online Community Conversation, discussing gold from a decolonising perspective. The UAL's Decolonising Arts Institute exists to challenge colonial and imperial legacies, disrupting ways of seeing, listening, thinking and making in order to drive cultural, social and institutional change. Tehmina is a museum curator, material culture and collections specialist and Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute - whilst Arabel is an award-winning jewellery designer, visual artist and creative campaigner credited with pioneering the ethical jewellery movement.
Together they pooled their experience and knowledge of history, art, heritage, precious materials and design to explore decolonising thinking and practices in the context of gold; shedding light on its historical, ethical, and practical dimensions. The session offered profound insights into the multifaceted nature of gold and how we as members of the jewellery industry can engage in more decolonising practices. Here, we share some key takeaways from the discussion.
(Full masterclass and community conversation recordings are available exclusively to our members as part of the members’ benefits package. To access this session and all others as an evergreen resource, please contact us to learn about joining The Jewellery Collective as a member.)
Gold’s Intricate Historical Legacy
Gold has symbolised wealth and beauty for millennia, but its extraction and trade have often come at great human and environmental costs. Throughout history and into the present day, gold has fuelled conflicts, colonisation, and exploitation – quite literally across the globe. Gold’s discovery in various cultures has been both a blessing and a curse, Tehmina feels. From early river panning to large-scale industrial mining, the pursuit of gold has reshaped societies – but often with devastating consequences for indigenous populations and ecosystems.
Despite these challenges, Tehmina urges us to avoid oversimplified narratives, emphasising the importance of recognising the nuanced stories of resilience and creativity that emerge from communities involved in gold mining and trade. “There is never one monolithic group of people doing one monolithic thing to another,” she reminds us. Understanding gold’s legacy means acknowledging both its harms and its role in cultural expression and survival. Recommended literature includes but is not limited to Plundering Paradise: The Struggle for the Environment in the Philippines (Robin Broad and John Cavanagh, 1993); King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa (Hochschild, 1998); Decolonise Contemporary Jewellery (Vanessa de Gruijter, 2022); The Guardian’s Cotton Capital investigation (2023) and articles on the Global Witness site.
Also raised in the conversation was the relationship between gold and both gender inequality and empowerment. Like many assets, gold has historically served as a tool of patriarchal systems - but can also serve as a means of empowerment for women in marginalised communities. One participant, for example, told of how her women ancestors harnessed smuggled gold as a tool for protection and currency as they fled conflict. Likewise, Tehmina spoke about initiatives such as Fairmined that prioritise women in mining communities, providing fair wages, leadership roles and opportunities to reinvest in their communities, which can help challenge traditional power dynamics.
The Ethical Dilemmas of Modern Gold Use
For many years, members of the jewellery industry at the tail-end of the supply chain have faced challenges in sourcing gold responsibly. For those concerned about the colonial roots of gold, the temptation to cease using it altogether may even arise. However, when mined, processed and sourced responsibly, gold is a vital tool for peace-building and prosperity in the communities that it belongs to. Sadly, it’s historic systems of greed and exploitation that have inhibited gold from fulfilling this potential.
Even as transparency, ethical practice and sustainability are increasingly normalised within the jewellery industry, the road is not always straight for small jewellery businesses. Whilst certifications such as Fairmined and Fairtrade Gold provide traceable pathways to ethical sourcing, it’s worth acknowledging that they can be cost-prohibitive for independent jewellers; particularly with recent price hikes. Meanwhile, recycled gold – though much cheaper – is a notorious greenwashing trope, with a lack of concrete definition and convoluted recycling processes obscuring the true origins of the metal.
For jewellers and artists grappling with the complexities of sourcing gold ethically, transparency and common knowledge is vital. Drawing on her 20+ years of experience in designing and crafting jewellery, Arabel recommends starting by asking suppliers detailed questions about the origins of their gold. Holding your supplier accountable can be as simple as asking Where does your gold come from? and What’s your approach to due diligence? in the first instance, to gauge their level of knowledge and commitment. “If your supplier can’t answer, that’s a red flag,” she advises. What’s more, questions like these are a vital step in the process of normalising due diligence in jewellery supply chains.
The conversation also touched on the importance of creating or adopting a personal ethical framework to help us prioritise, make informed decisions about sourcing, and remain focussed and consistent.
Arabel, for example, views the world through the lens of Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics model, making every decision in both her business and her personal life with reference to our world’s ‘Ecological Ceiling’ and ‘Social Foundation.’ This means always taking into consideration three key concepts…
1. Does your sourcing comply with legal frameworks?
2. Is the practice or material environmentally sustainable, taking active steps to avoid pollution and carbon emissions and prioritising ecological reparations?
3. Does it actively benefit people and communities, or does it perpetuate harm?
Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Grow
With each of us acting as crucial vessels for change, Tehmina encourages us to recognise our own impact. “If, for now, the cost of procuring Fairmined Gold is running you out of business, that’s not a very ethical decision for yourself or those who rely on you.” Ethical sourcing is a journey - not a destination - and incremental changes can still make a significant difference.
Arabel agrees: “In jewellery, it’s often just two components that we’re working with: gemstones and gold. If you get one right, that’s 50% of the work.” By focusing on individual steps – like sourcing Fairmined Gold for a single collection or committing exclusively to artisanal diamonds – we can measure our progress as jewellers striving for a better world, without overshooting ourselves.
Decolonising gold is a collective effort that requires continuous reflection and action. This conversation reminded us of the power of community and shared knowledge, highlighting the Ethical Making Resource, Arabel’s Ethical Jewellery Movement Manifesto and responsibly sourced gold initiatives like PeaceGold, Fairmined and Fairtrade as starting points for those committed to educating themselves on the role that today’s jewellery could play in driving cultural, social and institutional change.
Tehmina and Arabel will be joining us again at 6pm on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 to continue this community conversation with a focus on diamonds. Tickets are free for members or start from £5 as general admission and are available to book here. We look forward to seeing you there.