2 minute read
Shock of Grey
SHOCK OF GREY
Jewellery with a Conscience
Shock of Grey uses local, sustainably sourced materials in their jewellery, and collaborates with charities, making bespoke pieces to heighten awareness or give financial support
Formerly a design and digital media lecturer, Sarah Carroll Kelly founded sustainable jewellery company Shock of Grey in 2019. With 48 stockists across Ireland, USA, Canada—and more coming soon in the UK and Australia—the business operates from a bespoke garden room, built behind the founder’s Dublin city home.
“The building is insulated and secure and needs very little heat. We got to decide the number of power
outlets, locations and angle of light intake that works just for our business as it was a bespoke build,” Carroll Kelly explains.
“Being sustainable has always been important to me. I live in a house that’s over 115 years old and is full or restored, upcycled, and preloved furniture. I grew up in the 1980s in the countryside in Meath when nobody had any money, things weren’t replaceable, and it is always my default way of thinking when trying to repurpose something or come up with an alternative solution to a problem.”
The jewellery pieces are made mainly from wood, acrylic and brass. “Acrylic comes from Ebay. Large panels are expensive, so we buy smaller ones that are offcuts from other projects. We buy in as large quantities as we can afford to minimise the carbon footprint for shipping. Brass is sourced from a family run business, and we purchase via Etsy.”
EMBEDDING SUSTAINABILITY Over the past year, Shock of Grey has actively worked to do less harm to the environment and source local materials and services as much as possible, mostly from the neighbourhood in Dublin 8. Otherwise, some materials come from family-run, responsible businesses.
“Being sustainable has become more of a priority to the business and we have discontinued non-friendly packaging and pieces—no more bubble wrap or foil padded envelopes for orders.”
They also create their own shredded paper for packing and have zero emissions for their deliveries which are made either by hand,
Sarah Carroll Kelly, Founder and Designer, Shock of Grey
brought by trolley to the local post office, and as of 2022, by electric car. Their eco-friendly, recycled, bespoke packaging is beautifully designed to create a unique and sustainable unboxing experience.
“Our boxes are made from recycled cardboard and even the eco fibre is from recycled materials. Our labels, stickers and branded tape is also ecofriendly and we’ve just sourced eco fragile tape for shipping too,” Carroll Kelly states.
Shock of Grey has also fundraised for the Ukrainian Red Cross and gave 100 per cent of profits from a key retailer to it. This October sees the launch of two bespoke pieces created for The Scoop Foundation, with 100 per cent of the profits going towards aiding people affected by the crisis in Ukraine. The sunflower (or soniashnyk) earrings and pin represent the national flower of Ukraine and will be available to buy on both Shock of Grey’s and the Scoop Foundation’s websites.
www.shockofgrey.com
