Design Life-Cycle

 Sarah Wu

Professor Christina Cogdell

Energy, Materials & Design Across Time

December 2, 2021

Raw Materials in the Production of Cartier Rings

Founded by Louis-François Cartier in Paris in 1847, Cartier is considered one of the most prestigious jewelry manufacturers in the world. In fact, the brand is so prestigious, King Edward VII of Great Britain described Cartier as "the jeweler of kings and the king of jewelers” and issued a royal warrant to Cartier in 1904 (Hendren). Cartier’s most successful piece of jewelry is the Love Ring, a part of the company’s Love Collection, which is a symbol of free-spirited love. The Love Ring is popularly worn as engagement rings, wedding bands, as well as a luxurious everyday ring. Cartier eagerly expresses its goals of ethically running their business which includes business ethics, social performance, and environmental performance (Cartier). Although Cartier’s website doesn’t provide too many details, it can be concluded that Cartier puts efforts into making sure their products are ethically sourced and produced. Throughout the stages of the life cycle of Cartier’s Love Ring, the raw materials that are used are gold, copper, silver, charcoal, butane, citric acid, sodium bicarbonate, paper, and other fossil fuels.

The Cartier Love Ring is composed of 18K yellow gold, meaning it is composed of only a few raw materials. These raw materials are gold, copper, and silver. Because pure gold is very soft and malleable, these three metals are combined to create a gold alloy that is sturdy enough for daily wear. All three of these metals are mined from underground. Because the Love Ring is 18K yellow gold, it can be assumed to be 75% gold, 12.5% copper, and 12.5% silver (JewelryNotes). Although it is unknown where Cartier receives its copper and silver, a part of Cartier’s gold is sourced from the Italian-owned Eurocantera mine in Honduras. Eurocantera “combines a modern alluvial gold mine (meaning that the gold is found in water, close to the surface, requiring no blasting into rock) with small-scale miners who use traditional methods of panning gold” (Gunther). By sourcing its gold from this mine, Cartier supports artisanal miners not only by providing them with decent wages, but also by offering education in finance and technology, a free health clinic, and road-building for the whole community. The lack of rock blasting is also good for the environment because blasting rocks causes dust to go into the atmosphere. Shockingly, around 90% of the dust in the atmosphere is caused by drilling or blasting rocks (Al-Bakri, Hefni). Dust in the atmosphere negatively affects plants by burying saplings leading to reduced yield in crops. A large amount of dust in the air can also affect the respiratory health of humans and animals. Cartier’s willingness to source some of its gold from Eurocantera proves its dedication to ethically sourced gold.

The process of creating the 18K yellow gold alloy that composes Cartier’s Love Ring requires a multitude of tools. One such tool is a charcoal block which is used to hold the gold, copper, and silver metals when melting them. Charcoal is a secondary raw material that is made from burning carbonaceous substances such as wood. A torch is used to blast heat onto the gold, copper, and silver and melt them down so that they can easily combine to form the 18K gold alloy in a process called soldering. Usually, torches used to make jewelry use butane fuel which is a kind of fossil fuel. When the metal is soldered, it produces oxidation on the outside of the metal. The produced oxidation must be removed from the metal which is done through pickling. Pickling is a process that consists of allowing the soldered metal to cool and then dropping it in a solution of distilled water and citric acid which will remove the oxidation. The tools used to mold the 18K yellow gold alloy to form the Cartier Love Ring, such as pliers, clamps, ring mandrels, etc, can be made of various metals.

For their packaging, Cartier claims to use materials from environmentally friendly sources and to have had a specialist firm complete a life-cycle analysis on their two most iconic packing, the Cartier red bag and red gift boxes. However, Cartier does not provide information about the firm or a report of the life-cycle analysis mentioned. Cartier does supply the information about the paper that it uses which is TCF (totally chlorine free) and ECF (elementary chlorine free). Cartier also claims that the company opts for paper from forests that are managed in an “an environmentally-friendly, socially-beneficial and economically-viable way” (Cartier). The red shopping bags that Cartier uses for its product’s packaging are also made of Forest Stewardship Council or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes paper. The FSC and PEFC are both non-profit organizations that promote the responsible management of the world’s forests which proves the environmental friendliness of the paper Cartier uses.

Once all the raw and secondary materials are processed and made into a Cartier Love Ring and its packaging, the Love Ring must be transported to the Richemont manufacturing and distribution centers which are found around the world. The rings also need to be shipped to locations that sell the product as well as customer addresses for those who buy online. Cartier doesn’t provide information about the distribution of its products, but because Cartier has such a large global reach of consumerism, it can be assumed that planes, ships, and trucks are used to transport their products across oceans and countries. The raw materials used to power these transportation methods are most likely to be crude oil and coal. Both crude oil and coal are fossil fuels that are found in underground reserves.

According to Richemont, their products are designed and developed to a high quality that can be treasured for generations (Richemont). Therefore, Cartier Love Rings can be used and reused by various people for many years. A Cartier Love Ring can also be resized to fit another person’s finger if needed and can therefore be further re-used. Cartier provides the first re-sizing of a ring for free which encourages the ring to be used for a longer time (Cartier). This process also does not require any new raw materials. If the ring needs to be modified to a larger size, only a small amount of 18K yellow gold alloy is required to add to the ring. Then, butane is needed for the torch to heat up and soften the ring’s metal alloy. Other tools are used to form the resized ring, and the resizing process is complete. Finally, the ring can again be used by another person and will not be thrown away.

Recycling a Cartier Love Ring is also very simple and requires no new materials. The Love Ring can simply be melted down to its 18K yellow gold alloy and then further refined to eliminate impurities which in this case is copper and silver. This process of smelting results in 100% pure gold which is poured into a mold to be formed into pure gold bars (Rothans). The gold bars made from the Love Ring’s recycled gold are then melted again and molded into the shape and size desired to make new gold jewelry. Because gold can be recycled with little to no degradation of the gold metal, the Cartier Love Ring is very sustainable in this aspect.

The waste from throwing away a Cartier Love Ring is minimal because it is made up of natural metals and will not pollute the earth. Because the Cartier Love Ring can be used for generations, the waste caused by throwing away a Love Ring is also decreased by quite a bit. In addition, unwanted rings can be recycled through the processes explained above which further reduces the amount of waste produced by Cartier Love Rings. There isn’t much information provided by Cartier or Richemont that describes how their waste is managed besides that they put efforts into minimizing their waste and properly disposing of it. One waste that can be assumed to be produced from the manufacturing process is from the pickling process. The process of pickling the gold metal alloy to remove the oxidation from soldering leaves you with an acidic pickling solution. This acidic solution is toxic and cannot be poured down a drain. Pouring the pickling solution down a drain causes water pollution which leads to rivers, lakes, streams, and other water sources being unsafe for consumption by any living things. To dispose of the pickling solution safely, baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is used to neutralize the solution. After the solution is neutralized, it can be safely disposed of.

Overall, Cartier’s efforts in being ethically and environmentally friendly are shown throughout this research. Although Cartier doesn’t provide a lot of detailed information about its manufacturing, distribution, or waste management processes, Cartier emphasizes that it is committed to staying a responsible jeweler ethically, socially, and environmentally and takes action to do so. One way is that Cartier looks for ethical sources for their materials such as sourcing their gold from Eurocantera instead of a less ethical and environmentally harmful gold mine. The main concern the Love Ring brings up is its use of fossil fuels for transportation and distribution which releases great amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. However, this issue is common for many products and is difficult to remedy, and should not negate Cartier’s efforts in creating a sustainable product. The Love Ring can be used for many years and produces little direct waste and the waste that is produced is claimed to be minimized and properly disposed of. Ultimately, Cartier’s Love Ring is a very sustainable and rewarding investment to make because it is ethically sourced, environmentally friendly, and can be reused and recycled for many generations.

Works Cited

Company Profiles for Students. . Encyclopedia.com. 24 Nov. 2021 .” Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 2 Dec. 2021, https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/economics-magazines/cartier-inc. 

Al-Bakri, Ali, and Mohammed Hefni. “A Review of Some Nonexplosive Alternative Methods to Conventional Rock Blasting.” De Gruyter, De Gruyter Open Access, 1 Jan. 2021, https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/geo-2020-0245/html. 

“Cartier Responsible Jeweler.” Cartier, https://www.cartier.com/en-us/maison/culture-commitments/cartier-and-corporate-social-responsibility/cartier-responsible-jeweler/cartier-responsible-jeweler.html. 

“Gold Processing.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/technology/gold-processing. 

Gunther, Marc. “Cartier Goes for the Gold.” Smart Cities Dive, https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/cartier-goes-gold/8503/. 

Hamilton, Nancy LT. “On Pickle, Acid, Crock Pots and Baking Soda.” Nancy L T Hamilton, https://nancylthamilton.com/techniques/soldering/on-pickle-crock-pots-and-baking-soda/. 

Hendren, Joshua. “The Fabulous History of Cartier and the Royal Family.” Tatler, Tatler, 9 Feb. 2021, https://www.tatler.com/article/cartier-and-the-royal-family. 

“Jewelry Re-Sizing Service.” Cartier, https://www.en.cartier.com/services/care-adjust-repair/jewelry/adjust-or-repair/ring-re-sizing.html. 

Palencia, Gustavo. “Riches Trump Risk for Honduran Gold Miners.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 16 July 2008, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-illegal-honduras/riches-trump-risk-for-honduran-gold-miners-idUSL0951906620080716. 

“Resources of Excellence.” Cartier, https://www.cartier.com/en-us/maison/culture-commitments/cartier-and-corporate-social-responsibility/resources-of-excellence/resources-of-excellence.html. 

Rothans, John. “Is Gold Recyclable?: Gold Recycling Methods.” U.S. Money Reserve, 8 Dec. 2020, https://www.usmoneyreserve.com/blog/is-gold-recyclable/. 

Sustainability Report 2021 - Cms.richemont.com. https://cms.richemont.com/media/s2qgvgb0/sustainability-report-2021.pdf. 

“What Percentage of 18-Karat Gold Is Silver?” Jewelry Notes What Percentage of 18Karat Gold Is Silver Comments, https://www.jewelrynotes.com/percentage-18-karat-gold-silver/. 

Bates, Olivia

Sarah Wu and Chloe Hamman

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

December 2, 2021

The Waste and Pollution in Production of Cartier Rings

Cartier defines the beauty and essence of their rings best. “A love child of '70s New York, the LOVE collection is a symbol of free-spirited love. Its binding closure and screw motif give it true permanence, while diverse interpretations allow for a unique expression of feelings. Lock in your love, forever” (Cartier.com). The Cartier Love Ring is a 18 k yellow gold ring meant to symbolize a person's love. Cartier is a jewelry and watch company that is renowned for their innovation in design and timeless pieces that can be passed down from generation to generation. Cartier is a company owned by the Richemont Group located in Bellevue, Switzerland. The Richemont Group releases a lot more information about the companies they own and have been implementing many policies for promoting transparency. The Richemont Group and Cartier have both focused on releasing a lot of information about their environmental impact and have been taking strides towards improving their environmental impact. The waste and pollution produced from the gathering of raw materials and manufacturing to the use and recycling of Cartier Love Rings are carefully taken into consideration by the company and they try to use green methods and have programs to extend the lives of the rings by repairing them; however, they still continue to produce fossil fuels.

Cartier is a company that strives to source materials without destroying the environment, and they are successful to an extent. It helps that 90% of their gold is from recycled jewelry and industrial scraps, but they still source from mines for that other 10%. The Richemont group has a lot of information about how they source their gold and how they try to make it environmentally safe. As of 2021, the Richemont Group released that, “Currently, 90% of fine gold sourced by the Group is RJC COC-eligible gold, all coming from industrial scraps and old jewelry” (Grund 91). RJC COC is The Responsible Jewelry Council Chain of Custody and according to their website, their mission is “To advance responsible ethical, social and environmental practices, which respect human rights, throughout the diamond and gold jewelry supply chain, from mine to retail.” The RJC COC stamp of approval on Cartier operations means a lot because they keep standards up to date for ethical and environmental practices. Let’s talk about some of the environmental impacts of Cartier’s gold sources and what the difference is between using recycled gold versus using newly mined gold.  Using recycled gold has a low effect on biodiversity because it is noninvasive to untouched habitats, does not require heavy trucks, and releases less greenhouse gasses and chemicals into the environment (Pubmed.gov). Cartier does source 5% of their gold from a responsible mine that is called the Goldlake mine, located in Honduras. The Goldlake mine strives to, “[provide] chemical-free technology (without the use of potentially harmful mercury or cyanide): [reforest] areas denuded of trees; a zero discharge water management system; and 100 percent recycling of waste materials'' (storymaps.arcgis.com). This mine is one of the most environmentally responsible mines that can be found in the gold industry. Cartier could be sourcing from much more dangerous mines for the environment. With reference to Image 1, mining releases a significantly larger amount of C02 into the air than recycling. Recycled gold’s carbon outputs: 83 kg CO2 per 1 kg Au. Compare this to acquiring gold through mining: 16,000 kg CO2 per 1 kg Au. From this data it is evident that Cartier is consciously making choices to protect the environment rather than hurting it. With these strides in sourcing responsibly, Cartier has become a leading example to other jewelry companies and helps put pressure on companies to follow them in order to keep concerned customers happy. To make a Cartier Love Ring requires sources of love and that is something Cartier clearly keeps in mind with many business choices, including manufacturing.

Cartier’s manufacturing produces little waste and pollution; however, there is not much information about how the rings themselves are made and more about the places where they produce them. The Factory where Cartier creates their rings is in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland. According to wordtempus.com, La Chaux-de-Fonds, “is one of the largest fully integrated production facilities in Switzerland. Striking a subtle balance between cutting-edge technology and artisanal craftsmanship, the Cartier Manufacture above all depends on the outstanding expertise of over 1,000 employees from 37 countries.” The most important detail about the Cartier warehouse is that it is in Switzerland and that their government has many strict environmental policies enforced. Government regulation is not the only thing making Cartier environmentally forward. According to the Richemont group, Cartier buildings are required to be taking steps toward zero waste. “The Group has implemented the first steps in a comprehensive waste-management strategy, with the ultimate goal of zero waste to landfill from any major manufacturing and warehousing site” (Grund 111). The exact policies they plan to implement in their warehouses are scarcely talked about and no clear date is set for when they have to have zero waste by. It is important to note that the Richemont group has made their greenhouse gas emissions public information. They do not provide specific data for Cartier, but do provide emissions for all of their Jewelry companies, including Cartier. They release their information based off of Scopes. The Richemont group has defined the scopes as, “Scope 1: Direct GHG emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the company. It includes energy use from buildings and emissions associated with the vehicles we operate. Scope 2: Indirect emissions associated with purchased electricity, heat and steam. Scope 3: All other indirect emissions that are a consequence of the activities of the reporting company but occur from sources owned or controlled by another company” (Grund 119). The scopes for 2021 of Richemont Jewelry Mansions are as follows: Scope 1 is 2 tCO2e; Scope 2 is tCO2e; Scope 3 is 328 tCO2e. Cartier does a good job of keeping their CO2 emissions low, as is evident by the scope 1 and scope 2 emissions which Cartier has the most direct control of. Despite this fact, the carbon emission of transportation and distribution of their products is hidden in Scope 3, which will be discussed in the next paragraph.

Of the entire life cycle of Cartier Rings, the largest environmental impact comes from the transportation and distribution of the product. Overall Carter’s production does not release many greenhouse gasses into the environment; however, at the transportation and distribution stage, the numbers go up significantly. Cartier releases very few specific details about how they ship their products or what company is responsible for it, but the Richemont Group has stated that within their Group, “In general, small precious goods such as watches and jewellery are shipped by air” (Grund 121). Air travel requires a lot of fuel and that fuel is burned and releases greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The journal Atmospheric Environment in January 2021 concluded “aviation’s climate impact accounted for 3.5 percent of total anthropogenic warming in 2011 and was likely the same percentage in 2018” (Overton 1). One main reason for the transportation having a large impact on Cartier’s life cycle is that it is a part of the scope 3 carbon emissions and holds the least amount of responsibility for Cartier. Cartier themselves do not have direct information about the carbon emission for transportation and distribution, the Richemont Group does provide information for this. The Co2 emissions of the Richemont Group in 2020 was 122.3 tCO2e (Grund 119). This does include multiple companies within the Richemont group, but Cartier is one of their main brands, so their jewelry must contribute in some amount to this. An important note the Richemont Group makes about the 2020 statistics for transportation and distribution is that the “Scope 3 CO2 emissions decrease by 17% against 2019 baseline. The rationale behind this variation is due to the Covid-19 pandemic: less raw material was purchased and fewer products were manufactured and distributed” (Grund 121). The Pandemic had a large impact on the world and especially the environment. Cartier even decreased emission through the pandemic, but it just shows that the Richemont Group’s 17% drop in carbon emissions for transportation and distribution is a false improvement and it is unlikely that Cartier or the Richemont group will be able to maintain it. Cartier creates most of its carbon emission during transportation and distribution, but the end of the ring’s life cycle has a small impact on the environment. 

Through the phases of use, reuse and maintenance, cartier has little to no impact on the environment;however, their popularity attracts copy cats who do harm the environment significantly. Use of the ring does no harm to the environment and for maintenance, the largest impact on the environment is the emission from shipping the ring for repair. Cartier offers complimentary shining and engraving service. They will even adjust the ring for free one time and then it will cost $190 after that (Cartier.com).  They offer these services all for the sake of extending their life. Cartier’s rings do have a high initial cost, so it is nice to have these complimentary services. People seek to have the Cartier Ring, but do not want to pay the hefty price so they seek out counterfeiters who make the same ring for a lot less. The problem with these fake rings is that they do not have the same regulations on sourcing, manufacturing, and shipping that Cartier does, so they cut corners and harm the environment and take advantage of people. According to Earthworks.org, “it can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers, and destroy pristine environments. It pollutes water and land with mercury and cyanide, endangering the health of people and ecosystems. Producing gold for one wedding ring alone generates 20 tons of waste.” Cartier does take a strong stance against counterfeiters to fight these negative impacts on the environment, but they are unable to stop all fake rings. Cartier’s rings themselves may not produce any negative outputs, but the popularity of the rings comes at a cost to the environment.

At the recycling stage of the Cartier Ring’s life cycle, there is no waste output. The process of recycling gold requires chemicals, but those chemicals are not harmful to the environment. In the process of recycling jewelry, “recyclers have to remove gold from housings and pass it through a chemical-stripping procedure. Some gold is melted down, cooled, and grinded. Fortunately, the chemicals used to recycle gold become inert through the process” (.ethicaljewelleryblog.com). Recycling gold is very important to the environment because it is a nonrenewable resource and takes a large cost on the environment when it has to be mined. By recycling gold, the amount of the new gold that needs to be mined is decreased.

Cartier Rings need little to no waste management because it’s rare for them to stop being used and even when they are at the end of their life they are usually repurposed. Cartier Love Rings are made of 100 percent gold, so if they are thrown away and end up in the ground, there is not a negative effect on the soil. It’s rare for gold to be tossed aside like that, especially when it is nice jewelry. Throwing away gold can have a negative impact if it means requiring more mining. The way gold is mined emits large amounts of CO2, causes deforestation, pollutes drinking water, and releases harmful chemicals.

The process of creating Cartier Love Rings take the environment into consideration at every step. When sourcing the materials for the Cartier rings, most of the gold comes from recycled jewelry and industrial scraps which is less harmful to the environment than mining. The Richemont Group and Cartier produce only small amounts of carbon dioxide while making the rings. During the transportation and distribution phase is when we see the most carbon outputs. Cartier rings are not harmful to the environment and can easily be recycled for beneficial use. Overall, Cartier Love Rings overall are not very harmful to the environment and are timeless rings that will not shorten the planet’s life span.

Image 1 (Fritz)

Bibliography 

1. Burke, Vera. “Cartier: A Multinational Corporation.” ArcGIS StoryMaps, Esri, 7 Nov. 2020, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d11c168927a341339f83bc843f9e4614.

2. “Cartier - the Manufacture in La Chaux-De-Fonds -.” WorldTempus, https://en.worldtempus.com/article/cartier-the-manufacture-in-la-chaux-de-fonds-8111.html.

3. “Dirty Gold's Impacts.” Earthworks, 16 July 2018, https://earthworks.org/campaigns/no-dirty-gold/impacts/.

4. Fleming, Edward. Ethical Jewellery Blog, 28 Oct. 1970, https://www.ethicaljewelleryblog.com/.

5. Fritz, Benjamin, et al. “Environmental Impact of High-Value Gold Scrap Recycling.” The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 25 Aug. 2020, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7445229/figure/Fig6/.

6. Grund, Burkhart. Sustainability Report 2021 - Cms.richemont.com. https://cms.richemont.com/media/s2qgvgb0/sustainability-report-2021.pdf.

7. “The Hidden Cost of Jewelry.” Human Rights Watch, 6 Sept. 2021, https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/02/08/hidden-cost-jewelry/human-rights-supply-chains-and-responsibility-jewelry#.

8. “Jewelry Adjust or Repair.” Sites-CartierUS-Site, https://www.cartier.com/en-us/jewelry-adjust-repair.html.

9. Overton, Jeff. “Fact Sheet: The Growth in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Commercial Aviation (2019).” EESI, https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fact-sheet-the-growth-in-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-commercial-aviation.

10. Responsible Jewellery Council Chain-of-Custody (COC) Standard. https://www.responsiblejewellery.com/wp-content/uploads/S002_2012_RJC_CoC_Standard_PM.pdf. 

Chloe Hamman

Professor Cogdell

Des 40

December 2, 2021

Cradle to Grave of the Love Ring 

Cartier is luxury jewelry brand that was founded in 1847. This was a brand built on the exploitation of the aristocracy during the The Commune, a Socialist revolution. In 1871 when The Commune ended, France was official declared a Republic. This allowed Cartier to grow his business exponential and become the household name that he is today.

Regarding the image below, it shows the energy cycle during the life cycle of production. It begins with the initial energy required for production. The it is the recurrent energy for the maintenance. And it all returns during the recycling of the materials. It is a visual representation of the following information. 

The company  Richemont owns Cartier. Richemont in Switzerland that owns multiple luxury jewelry brands, however according to professionaljeweller.com, Cartier “represents an estimated 45 percent of Richemont’s revenue.”

Cartier has prided itself over the years on its ability to remain an environmentally conscience brand. Brands however can manipulate their marketing so that the appear to have more of a positive environmental impact than they actually do. Because of this, it is important for research to be done regarding the integrity of the claim business tend to make. Cartier highlights the ares they feel they exile regarding environmental consigned in their “CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY POLICY”. Specifically regarding embodied energy, Cartier states, “We will take steps to reduce the quantity of water, oil and energy consumed in our operations”, “We will use appropriate measurements of water and energy consumption to inform an ongoing abatement and/or control program”, and “We will seek to implement practices that reduce use of fossil fuels and associated greenhouse gas emissions from transportation”. However, it is important that consumers do not just take the corporations’ word as to how they are reducing use of unnecessary energy, and they do research as too if these claims are actually accurate. 

According to the Richemont sustainability report, "The gold sourcing strategy is based on industrial scraps and old jewelry recycling.” The small amount of raw gold that is used in each ring requires exponential amounts of kinetic, mechanical, nuclear, and thermal energy to obtain. According to Chelsey Grasso, “Their diamonds are sourced from suppliers who share the company’s values”. Cartier works with organizations such as the Natural Diamond Council to ensure that they have accountability for they way their diamonds were obtained and they have resources to obtain diamonds ethically. While being involved with these organizations does help diminish the overall total of embodied energy, a large amount of the embodied energy does come from obtaining the raw materials because they are all the materials used are natural materials that require mining and large quantities. The process of mining is an example of mechanical or kinetic energy, because it requires the energy that is inquired from a moving object in order to break the rock holding the gold or diamonds. It could also be an example of thermal or nuclear if an explosive form of mining was taking okay.

Cartier is one of the largest production companies in Switzerland. Once the raw materials arrive to the production site then the begin by forming the gold into the ring shape. The process of melting down the ring is a form of thermal energy because heat is used to deconstruct gold. Then the gold is molded into the ring shape, this would be kinetic energy because it is the movement of the gold to form its new shape. It is also at this time that the diamonds are formed into the desired shape required to fit into the ring, this process would require kinetic energy. 

The distribution of the items is also consumes a large portion of the embodied energy. The raw materials have to get to the factories, then the factories have to distribute it to the shops. The primary mode of transportation is planes, boats, and vehicles. This would require several different forms of energy such as gravitational energy for planes and chemical energy for he fossil fuels required for boats and vehicles. 

While the actual process of wearing the ring throughout ones daily life does not require any additional energy other than that of which the human is already exerting, the process of putting on the ring does require a small amount of kinetic energy because of the movement required to place the ring on the finger. However, once the product is complete, marketing is required in order to sell the new products. According to the Cartier website, when when it comes to the lightening use to display they new rings, they use energy efficient lighting. “…develop LED technology that provides the same quality of light with 50% less energy consumption and noticeably reduced heat emissions, adding up to significant energy savings overall.” The lightening uses light energy. With that, Cartier is being conscience of even the seemingly unimportant details regarding certain aspects of the business in order to be the most energy efficient than can possibly be. 

Ironically, Cartier does not have any resources for cliental to recycle old rings. As the company that uses recycled jewelry to create their rings, one would think they would recycle their own jewelry for their own benefit. However, if the company were to create recycle opportunities for customers then it would require thermal energy to melt the old rings and turn them into a form that would be more useful for future production. 

If, for any unfortunate reason, a Cartier Love ring ends up in at the landfill, there is a short process it must go through until it reaches its finally buried into the ground. First, kinetic energy is required to transport the ring to the landfill and then. Once the ring is at the landfill, it requires thermal energy to melt down the ring into a substance that can be buried with all of the worthless garbage that ends up next to the ring. 

After extensive research, it is obvious that the Cartier brand is attempting to make its creating process more environmentally conscience, however it is a long process. During the raw material stage the majority of the gold that is used in the rings is the Love ring is from recycled jewelry this means that the embodied energy required for obtaining the raw gold would be from

the process of making the originally jewelry and the distribution to the Cartier factories. The rest of the gold and the diamonds that are mined for are an example of mechanical or nuclear. During the process of manufacturing a Cartier love ring, several energies are required. First the energy required to melt the old jewelry in order to be able to use it for the new rings would be thermal.

The energy required to prepare the raw gold and diamonds for use would be thermal and kinetic. In order to create the carvings into the body of the ring, that would require thermal, mechanical, and kinetic energy. In order to transport the raw materials from the mining site at which they were obtained and to the factories along with transporting the recycled gold that is going to be used, planes and boats are the most common medians used. Planes relay on gravitational energy and boats rely chemical energy. Additionally, once the product is done with production and is

ready for retail, more energy is required to distribute the rings to the shops all around the globe that they will be sold at. One must exert a small amount of kinetic energy in order to place the ring on their finger, but that would be the only time the use of the ring would require additional energy. There is no process for recycling a Cartier ring therefore there is no energy at this point in the process. If they were to recycle a ring, it would require thermal energy in order to melt down the ring and most likely mechanical in order to process the old ring into a new product for

additional years of enjoyment. If, through a series of unfortunate circumstances, a Cartier ring were to end up in a landfill, the it would require kinetic energy to transport it to the landfill and thermal energy for it be melted down. And finally it would take more kinetic for it to be

moved to its final resting place within the landfill. 

In conclusion, Cartier has done a fine job of beginning the process of decreasing the embodied energy used in the cradle to grave process of their famous love ring.

Bibliography 

Cartier Responsible Jeweler, https://www.cartier.com/en-us/maison/culture-commitments/cartier-and-corporate-social-responsibility/cartier-responsible-jeweler/cartier-responsible-jeweler.html. 

En Corporate Responsibility Policy - Cartier.com. https://www.cartier.com/ycm/resource/blob/133484/c3984b11b0afef37170abec0f043506d/cartier-politique-corporate-responsibility-en-data.pdf. 

Staff, Editorial. “The Framework for an Ethical Diamond Industry.” Only Natural Diamonds, 29 Mar. 2021, https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/resources/the-framework-for-an-ethical-and-sustainable-diamond-industry/. 

“Cartier - the Manufacture in La Chaux-De-Fonds -.” WorldTempus, https://en.worldtempus.com/article/cartier-the-manufacture-in-la-chaux-de-fonds-8111.html#:~:text=Located%20in%20La%20Chaux%2Dde,integrated%20production%20facilities%20in%20Switzerland. 

About the author: Benjamin Khordipour Benjamin Khordipour is one of the researchers and gemologists at Estate Diamond Jewelry. He received his gemological degrees from both GIA and GUBELIN.Benjamin was born in New York and joined Estate Diamond J, et al. “The Complete History of Cartier.” Estate Diamond Jewelry, 12 Sept. 2019, https://www.estatediamondjewelry.com/the-complete-history-of-cartier/. 

Alex Douglas, et al. “Cartier Has Full Custody of Portion of Its Gold Supply Chain.” Professional Jeweller, 9 Feb. 2018, https://www.professionaljeweller.com/cartier-full-custody-portion-gold-supply-chain/#:~:text=Support%20for%20artisanal%20and%20small,%2C%20social%2C%20and%20environmental%20standards. 

“What We Do.” About Us | What We Do, https://www.richemont.com/en/home/about-us/what-we-do/. 

Balancing Accessibility and ... - LUISS Guido Carli. https://tesi.luiss.it/16135/1/buscemi-gaia-tesi-2015.pdf. 

Chelsey Grasso Chelsey is the Director of Content & Development at Remake. For her, et al. “Cartier.” Remake, https://remake.world/brand/cartier/. 

Resources of Excellence, https://www.cartier.com/en-us/maison/culture-commitments/cartier-and-corporate-social-responsibility/resources-of-excellence/resources-of-excellence.html.