Green Age
PHILOSOPHY
High-quality, environmentally friendly jewelry
promoting social advancement of women
Green Age supports socially and economically underprivileged women in Cali, Colombia and meets all the Fair Trade Principles and Guidelines.
Green Age reflects the love of Nature and her commitment to keep it safe for future generation: Eco-friendly production using only environmentally friendly materials.
Green Age promotes conservation as the main ingredient comes from the fruit of a palm tree that is a substitute for Ivory made from elephant tusks.
Green Age Elements
GREEN AGE uses only the finest natural materials, mainly palms seeds and fibers.
The main component in all collections is the Tagua Nut, also known as vegetable Ivory. This nut is actually the seed of the Phythelephas Macrocarpa palm that grows near the Colombian Pacific coast.
Its creamy color, density and hardness make the Tagua Nut an eco-friendly substitute for actual ivory and is one of the few materials that becomes more beautiful with age.
Each nut needs to be dried for up to five years, it is then sanded, cut, dyed, and polished to produce the final design.
We only use natural and environmentally friendly pigments for dying the Tagua nut.
The palm trees are not harmed as the seeds are gathered from the floor and the commercialization of these seeds helps to ensure the conservations of the Colombian forests. The Tagua nut is an important economic means for many families in rural and economically marginalized areas.
Other materials we use in our creations are:
Açaí seeds
come from the 45 to 90 hight Açaí palm, Euterpe Oleracea that grows in South America. Small dark purple berries grow in dense clusters on the palm, and each contains a single hard seed about 0.25–0.4 inches in diameter.
The Açaí seeds are white under the peel , and can be dyed with pigment in order to create beautiful jewelry!
Totumo
Is a large and spherical fruit from the Calabash Tree, Crescentia Cujete, that grow throughout Colombia. The fruits develop a green woody shell, used to manufacture Jewelry. After the fruits have been harvested, the shell is cut, dried, died and finally polished. it is also commonly used to create kitchenware and musical instruments.
Iraca
The Iraca Palm Carludovica Palmata ciclantea is a tropical plant grown in Colombia. Have strong and fanned leaves that reach a length of 90 centimeters.
Its soft, flexible, and durable fibers are dyed with natural and lively pigments and the wowen to form beautiful shapes used in our Jewelry.
THE PERSON BEHIND GREEN AGE
Green Age jewelry is design by Ana Maria Forero von Greiff
She fell totally in love with this beautiful seed more than 25 years ago, when she was working at the National Parks in Colombia and had the opportunity to see the locals working, carving and creating beautiful figurines with the Tagua seed. She saw Tagua’s immense versatility and potential.
In 2004 Green Age she decided to realize her dream: Create beautiful pieces of Jewelry and Accessories using only natural and environmentally friendly materials from South America. Her aim is also to offer employment and support the social advancement of artisan women in Colombia, her home country. Green Age also supports ecological and conservation projects in the area.
Ana Maria lived in Europe where she worked in the fashion industry and finished her ecology studies. After more than 12 years of living in the UK and Germany, Ana Maria went back to Colombia to create her own Label and Company: Green Age . She traveled all over the country searching for special and unique natural materials, organized a Workshop in Cali, offer training and employment to women who head of household with above average salaries and working conditions.
FUTURE OF GREEN AGE
Green Age wants to become an honorary ambassador of cultural, ancestral and natural wealth from Colombia and Latin America.
One of the goals of Green Age is to be able to work more and more with women from different ethnic groups, not only from Colombia but from other countries in Latin America, promoting the preservation of ancient artisanal materials and techniques and translating them into unique jewelry creations.
