L.GREENWALT JEWELRY
since 2012
L.Greenwalt Jewelry, formerly known as Loop Jewelry, was founded in Portland, Oregon during the fall of 2012.
Lauren Greenwalt, native to Colorado but a Portlander at heart, has had a life-long love affair with color and texture. An imaginative, artistic child born into an artistic family, painting and drawing were always second nature to her. However, she realized one day that a three dimensional medium was a better fit for her creative urges. Jewelry design comes naturally as the perfect medium, in that it allows her to combine a love of classic elegance with playful, quirky symmetry.
In 2018 L.Greenwalt was able to welcome the very talented Kieron Thomas, making L.Greenwalt Jewelry a wife and husband team.
Designer / Maker, Lauren Greenwalt, and Co-Owner / Maker / Artist, Kieron Thomas.
Inspiration for L.Greenwalt Jewelry stems strongly from the geometric motifs of the Art Deco era and the sensuous fluidity of Art Nouveau creations. Each piece incorporates nuances from the past—but with a new twist. The result is a channeling of classical designs with Lauren's own artistic vision added, making L.Greenwalt Jewelry not just an item of personal adornment but a piece of art as well.
~ Casting Jewelry ~
As of December 2024, L.Greenwalt Jewelry is casting all of our cast jewelry in house, by us, Kieron and Lauren.
What is cast jewelry? It is a medium of production for jewelry.
Typically a piece is first sculpted in wax or other medium and then it is cast via lost wax casting method.
After the first cast is done, a master mold is made. The mold then yields wax replicas of the master, where it is then added to a "wax casting tree".
The wax casting tree is then baked in a cylinder of investment (plaster) and the hollow form becomes the mold for the molten metal to flow through and shape, yielding cast metal jewelry. The metal trees are cut down, tumbled, smoothed and polished and then the individual pieces are hand finished when ordered, with great attention to detail.
It's hard messy work but creates beautiful results!
Our cast jewelry is made from 925 sterling silver metal and yellow bronze metal. We reuse our yellow bronze, and 925 sterling silver metals for all of our casts. Our scrap 925 sterling silver metal consists of the wire ends from our 925 sterling silver hammered styles. These add up and allow us to create additional pieces using this scrap 925 sterling silver. This doesn't mean that we don't have to buy new metal to cast with, at times we will when there is not enough scrap metal on hand.
Kieron is responsible for molding (hollow copies in silicone), investing, baking the investment, creating the wax trees, resizing rings, pouring molten metal and I, Lauren, help him finish the wax pieces for tree spruing, polishing and cleaning.
Donations
Over $6500 donated and counting
as of 07/2024
With their permission, we donate 5% of all sales from our Hearts + Abalone line to The Bail Project. These funds are calculated once a month and donated online straight to this NGO.
Since 2020, we have donated over $1600 to The Bail Project and counting, from 5% of sales from this line.
With their permission, we donate 5% of all sales from our Rainbows line to The Sentencing Project. These funds are calculated once a month and donated online straight to this NGO.
Since 2020, we have donated over $1700 to The Sentencing Project and counting, from 5% of sales from this line.
With their permission, we donate 5% of all sales from our Sea Shapes line to The Ocean Conservancy. These funds are calculated once a month and donated online straight to this NGO.
Since 2019, we have donated over $3200 to The Ocean Conservancy and counting, from 5% of sales from this line.
Metals
All sterling silver used is sourced responsibly & or with the majority being composed of recycled sterling. Our Gold fill may also include up to 85% recycled gold.
Shipping Supplies and Materials
Divested from Uline
In 2020 we divested from Uline. We found that their investments were not aligned with our ethics. We are now purchasing all shipping supplies from EcoEnclose and Paper Mart.
No more bubble mailers!
~*International and Domestic Orders are shipped using biodegradable / recyclable materials. We use either cardboard boxes from paper mart, flat rate priority boxes from USPS or recycled padded paper mailers from Ecoenclose. We do not use bubble wrap. *Unfortunately international orders require a plastic invoice sleeve on the outside of their orders so this part is not biodegradable, but may be recyclable depending on your region.
~Our shipping tape is also plant based, renewable and biodegradable!
~Jewelry boxes are made from 95% recycled materials, and are recyclable, less interior padding. To keep your jewelry from tarnishing, we recommend storing your jewelry in your L.Greenwalt Jewelry box.
The L.Greenwalt Jewelry studio uses biodegradable gloves, biodegradable zip lock bags and participates in scrap recycling with unused and left over metals, in addition to recycling responsibly in the L.Greenwalt Jewelry office.
We strive to keep our jewelry products and processes
animal product free.
What does this mean? We do not use animal products in our jewelry and avoid them in our processes. That includes pearls, leather, bone etc, from our carving wax when creating a design to our buffing compound when polishing a piece of jewelry.
