More Wedding Goodness

So - a few weeks back I showed you an amazing engagement ring and save-the-date card made with the couple's first initials, A and K. We recently received their wedding invitation, also using their new family crest, and I wanted to share a little peek - isn't it gorgeous?

They are going to use the A&K monogram through-out their wedding decor and I'm so excited to see what else they come up with. Congrats Allister & Kellam!!

Turn your gold into GOOD!

Hi there and Happy Sunday! We're very pleased to be co-sponsoring a great event on Tuesday 8/4. Come down to The Shed at Glenwood for yummy food, drinks and an opportunity to earn cash & support a great cause all at once!

Heart of Gold will be buying old or broken jewelry from 5-8pm, with half of all proceeds going to the event attendees and half going to the Atlanta Police Foundation. Learn more and RSVP here!

Our Homage to Ferrari

Recently, we had a small trunk show at Ferrari of Atlanta. The event was sponsored by The Atlantan and featured the premiere of the new Ferrari California hardtop - a magnificent machine!

One of the car enthusiasts we met asked for a set of custom cuff links featuring the familiar rearing horse logo and a set of roman numerals. We delivered the finished set this week and I think they are gorgeous! How about you?

Echo Goes Green!

Hello everyone - and Happy Monday! Tomorrow we'll be joining the rest of the Etsy Twitter Team for a unique summer shopping event. To quote our team blog, "From July 21st to July 27th, the authority on Twitter for all things handmade will be offering a summer feast of cool eco-friendly tips, suggestions, awesome handcrafted genius and a scavenger hunt with lots of 'green' prizes for the winners."

To celebrate, we're offering 20% off on ALL the jewelry in our Etsy store through Tuesday 7/27 - Just enter discount code "Go Green" in the comments section or your order and the discount will be refunded to you via PayPal within 24 hours.

And how does Echo go green? By using recycled metal in our jewelry, that's how! Recycling metal is of particular importance in our industry because 80% of the gold used each year goes into jewelry. Gold mining is an extremely dirty industry: it can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, and destroy pristine environments. Today, gold is primarily found in very low concentrations – less than 10 grams per ton. The only way to extract gold found in such small quantities is to create large open-pit mines and excavate huge amounts of ore. Once it’s extracted, the ore is crushed, piled into huge heaps and sprayed with cyanide, which causes the gold to leach out of the ore. Some mines use several tons of cyanide per day, while just a rice-grain sized dose can be fatal. The cyanide-contaminated waste ore is then usually just abandoned. To produce enough gold for just one ring, about 18 tons of waste ore are created. Amazing, huh?

The good news is that there is enough gold above ground (already mined) to satisfy the demands of the jewelry industry for the next 50 years. Buying recycled gold is one of the most ecologically and socially responsible choices a consumer can make. Join us - Go Green with Etsy and Echo this week!

Hello Summer!

Well, let me tell you - it is HOT here in Atlanta! Very, very hot! Even though the official start of summer is a couple days away, I'd say we're pretty much there.....

In honor of the heat, I have two very important - and HOT - events to share with you. Tomorrow night, 6/20, we'll have a trunk show of our jewelry at Ferrari of Atlanta from 7-10pm. They're unveiling the new Ferrari California - which is a very hot car! - with the first Ferrari retractable hard top. Jewelry and auto fans come out and see us!

We're also participating in the Georgia Etsy Street Team's summer sale and are offering 20% off all Etsy shop purchases through 6/28. Now is the time to get that piece you've been eyeing at a spectacular savings!

What's Happening?

Well, a lot, as it turns out! We'll be showing our line - including a sneak peek of our brand new Black Metal line for men - tonight at Mercedes Benz of Buckhead. There will be a men's fashion show by Sebastian's Closet and the incredible new McLaren 722S roadster (one of only 25 in the US!) will be on display. If you are in Atlanta, please come out and join us for an fab evening of fashion, cocktails and sexy autos!

Not in the ATL? No problem! We have an amazing online event happening right now as well. Etsy, the home of our online store, is having a huge YART Sale through 6/14/09. We're offering free shipping on all order plus a very special bonus. We're giving away - yes, for free! - a beautiful Chad Rullman design sterling silver heart pendant to the first customer of the sale. We're also going to select another sale customer at random to win an additional heart! You can see this lovely and delicate design below - a wonderful gift for yourself or someone you love. Visit our shop here.

That's all for now - we hope to meet you in person or the virtual world soon!

Jewelry Trends - What's Hot?

This week found the largest jewelry market show in the world happening in Las Vegas. The 17th annual JCK Las Vegas hosted jewelry retailers from 72 countries and a whopping 3,100 manufacturers and suppliers from more than 20 countries. So, what were the trends and topics most discussed?

Jewelry inspired by our new, and wonderfully fashionable, First Lady was a hot item. Her classic pearls and statement necklaces seem to be resonating with a lot of American women. "Green" jewelry and nature inspired themes were also very popular. Russell Simmons spoke to a large group about his initiative to stop the sale of African conflict diamonds, and recycled metal was also at the top of the social agenda. For those of you wondering, we here at Echo are huge supporters of socially conscious buying, and manufacturing processes. We use recycled metals and are happy to source conflict-free diamonds for any of our clients.

What else had people buzzing? Colored stones - especially black diamonds. We are about to launch a fabulous new men's line featuring these hot gems, so stay tuned!

What are you going to be looking for? Email me at alex@echodamour.com and let me know!