We Are All Made of Stardust, and Your (Ethically-Sourced) Wedding Ring Can Be Too // Forge & Fountain
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Ethically-sourced wedding bands are what you want on your fourth finger forever, and Forge & Fountain is here for all your conflict-free jewelry needs!
Before I tell you all about why their rings are good for people and the planet, just take a minute to drool over these handcrafted works of art:
A Renaissance Love Story
Every single piece at Forge & Fountain is designed and handcrafted by Josh and Holly — and you better believe there is a love story behind this team.
As a kid, Josh was inspired by the blacksmith at the Fort Ross historical re-enactment, and after ogling his work for several seasons, he finally got up the courage to ask about taking some classes with him. He was immediately hooked, and his love of the forge led him to silversmithing and fine jewelry. He's a real Renaissance man.
Holly has been passionate about the arts since she could hold a crayon. Her education and career have taken her all over the fine arts world, from classical painting and printmaking to textile design and printmaking to jewelry design. She's a real Renaissance woman.
It's only fitting that these two met at a Renaissance Faire and got engaged during a Napoleonic re-enactment in France then, isn't it? So, when their wedding rolled around, it was a foregone conclusion that they'd design and make their own rings.
Thus a new love was born: one for designing and building beautiful rings together.
Artisanal Jewelry Craft that Finds Beauty in the Imperfections
A little while back, they designed this French knot ring and kinda forgot about it. Until they stumbled on a very similar one on Pinterest — which turned out to be from an ancient Roman burial site. It was a perfect discovery for these history buffs, and it gives their design a special meaning.
Another way their jewelry is special? No two pieces are exactly alike — even if you order a house style. That's because there are natural variations in the stones and metal and because each ring is handmade in their Bay Area studio. They treasure the relationship between artist and materials and believe that there is a historical precedent for “imperfection.” Before there were machines and perfect molds to make everything exactly alike, skilled artisans used the same techniques that Forge & Fountain does today — and the result is a unique work of art just for you.
Bespoke Rings Made with Your Family Heirlooms
And speaking of unique pieces? One more thing they told me they really love – and want to do more of — is customize your rings to you. You can incorporate a gem from a family heirloom into one of their house styles, change the gemstone out of a setting you love, or work together with them to create a completely custom design — just like they did when they got married.
Reuse & Recycle — Gold & Silver That Is
Ok, enough of this mushy love stuff — let's talk environmental protection and sustainable practices like I promised we would!
You see those little flecks of gold and silver on the band? Most metalworkers collect these tiny filings and metal scraps that are made during the finishing stages of jewelry-making and send them out for refining. There, the scraps are melted back into bigger pieces and shipped back out to jewelers — a great first step in the metal reuse process. But at Forge & Fountain, they skip the extra fuel consumption involved in refining. Instead, Josh and Holly sprinkle gold or silver grains across the surface of a ring to make their signature moondust texture. It's one of their favorite styles to create.
Speaking of reusing metal, every piece of Argentium silver they work with is recycled! I know, right? I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I heard that, too.
Fairly Traded & Ethically Sourced
It's not just the environment that Josh and Holly care about; they care about people, too. That's why all of their gold comes from a single Fairmined-certified source. There, the mines work to give their communities economic stability.
Gemstones are sourced from reputable miners, too — usually through the Columbia Gem House, whose mine-to-market protocols make them a bastion of accountability for environmental protection and fair labor practices at every stage of a gem's journey from a mine to your finger.
Fusing Your Wedding Ring with Love
A lot of jewelers choose to solder when they need to attach pieces to each other, but at Forge & Fountain fusing is their primary means of connecting metals. What does that mean to you? Your ring is pure and seamless! No solder means no extra metals or chemicals introduced into your band, and because the metals are melted to each other, there are no visible lines where they connect.
And Who Doesn’t Want a Ring Made with Stardust?
I just have to show you one more because it's so freaking cool — this “Stardust” style is made from a chunk of an actual meteorite!
Wedding planning is full of tough decisions, but this one should be easy: click over to the Forge & Fountain shop and order your hand-forged wedding bands now!
Bespoke wedding rings take about two months; house styles can get to you in as little as three weeks; and if you're in a hurry, the ready-to-wear collection ships in just three business days. Amazingly, these artisan creations average only $1,500-$3,500. Why are you still here?
CINDY SAVAGE
Cindy Savage is the lead wedding planner and owner of Aisle Less Traveled, based in St. Louis. She helps independent, feminist, and LGBTQ+ people plan meaningful weddings while keeping their budgets and their sanity intact. She firmly believes that everyone who has found love deserves a great wedding, no matter what size their budget is - and to make that a reality, she invented Choose Your Own Wedding, an internet-based wedding planning subscription to offer comprehensive planning support at an affordable price.
When she's not planning weddings, she can usually be found living her best introvert life: reading books, crafting, talking to her internet friends, drinking wine, wearing stretchy pants, and exercising complete control over the remote!
