Our values
INSPIRED BY NATURE TO ACT BETTER
I grew up being close to nature. Legend has it that I was conceived during an off-trail cross-country skiing trip my parents took in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. At two years old, still in diapers, I traveled lakes and rivers on my parent's canoe expeditions. When I was seven years old, I went for several days in the Adirondacks with my father, when hiking was not the fashionable activity that it is now.
Today, I am a jeweler. Sagana Créations is inspired by nature and regularly uses natural materials to create quality products. When I think back to my childhood, it's no surprise that I believe we need to do more than learn from nature. We must do the best we can for the planet and our environment.
Drawing inspiration from nature is good, but it's not enough. Nature can no longer be seen simply as an inspiration, a commodity, a storehouse of “resources” for human use and profit. It must be considered as a partner and a model in any human endeavour.
BUYING IS VOTE
By purchasing a work from Sagana Creations, you are sure to invest with an artisan who has sustainable, ethical and ecological practices at heart and who will do everything in his power to offer you versatile, quality and durable products, and this, in the greatest transparency.
Concrete actions
With this in mind, I have been wondering for several years how to integrate my values into my activities as an artisan-jeweller. How to refuse the status quo and go further. How do I fit into a system that advocates life rather than destruction.
As humans, everything we do has an impact on the environment around us and on the beings who live there. Jewelery is a profession that fascinates me, but it is not the most ecological. We have a long way to go at this level, whether it is through the products used in the manufacture of jewelry or the controversies surrounding the mining industry and the exploitation of stones.
I am constantly looking for new ways to make this profession more eco-responsible. And I also seek to fight against the already established norms of overconsumption, easy, impulsive and very often poor quality purchases.
I continue my research to integrate these principles so that my creations are eco-responsible. I have made mistakes from time to time and I will probably make more. But I will try to learn from it, innovate and continue to adapt.
Jewelry also has the excellent advantage of using metals in an almost infinite way. Even dust can be refined and reused. Metal is extremely versatile and despite its hardness, it is malleable and can be transformed in amazing ways.
MEASURES ALREADY IMPLEMENTED:
1.
Do not use resins in the materials I use. And limited the plastic to the essentials.
2.
Use recycled wood from scrap wood from a local cabinetmaker.
3.
Prioritize creations that will use a stock of Canadian stones that I bought from a jeweler who was retiring
4.
Use of vegetable tanned leather from scraps from a local trade.
5.
The stains and varnishes used are water-based and non-toxic.
6.
Minimize packaging and use natural and easily recyclable materials. No plastic or petroleum-based products (styrofoam or bubble wrap) will be used.
7.
Donate 5% of sales to the "David Suzuki Foundation" (for sales from January 1, 2021)
8.
I keep my eyes open to reuse and recycle several elements such as old jewelry, broken pottery, sea glass and industrial slag to integrate them into my creations.
MEASURES TO INCLUDE:
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Prioritize recycled silver. The purpose of using recycled metals is to reduce the impact of the mining industry, whether small or large scale. Our use of recycled metals indirectly contributes to reducing the use of chemicals needed to extract new metals from mines.
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Find out about the supply and use of "Ecosilver" certified silver It happens that recycled metal ends up being mixed with new metal. Suppliers often have no way of assuring us with certainty that 100% of their metal comes from old recycled metals because no traceability is guaranteed. Ecosilver silver is an eco-friendly alternative to sterling silver. Composed of 100% recycled silver products, Ecosilver can be both treated and worked in the same way as silver, for the same quality results, it is simply more ecological.
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Obtain "Fairmined" certification for all mining products.
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Put myself in search of eco-responsible leather. A vegetable tanned animal leather from food. Ideally I would like to find leather with traceability characteristics. Vegan leather is an industrial product that uses chemicals. So I will not retain this option for the moment.
The team
Joanie L. Pauze
Owner, designer and artisan-jeweler
Joanie founded Sagana Créations when she started in jewelry in 2013. She has always been passionate about everything related to creative arts and manual work such as drawing and knitting, but also for permaculture. Sagana Créations is the meeting point between his different passions.
Marc-Andre Pauze
Photographer / philosophical & poetic adviser
Photographer / writer and artist-traveler, Marc-André brings his know-how at the visual design of the site, with his photography and his video capsules. He is also the philosophical and poetic advisor of Sagana Creations while being a spark blower.
