Why Kassandra Lauren Gordon Thinks Ethical is a Buzzword

Amiah Taylor: Do you think Black children are encouraged to become goldsmiths and jewelers?

Kassandra Gordon: This is the thing, people have to look at the journey and no one has done any research. This is why I wanted to do the fund of qualitative research.

I’m trained as a social researcher from my time at university. We’re not there yet these are all just random stories. This is just my individual story. So when I was at school, I didn’t know about silversmiths. I didn’t know what a goldsmith was.

Everyone wanted me to be a social worker because I don’t know how it is in the U.S. but usually, there’s a lot of overrepresentation of social workers who are Black. That’s what I grew up in, everyone wanted to be a nurse, a hairdresser, a social worker, or perhaps an athlete. I’m not about that life. The short answer is no, I don’t think people are exposed. And the Black people who do, do jewelry there’s an expectation for them to do hip hop jewelry like grills.

AT: Has your experience of harassment around collecting supplies affected your style of jewelry? I noticed that your style is very minimalist. 

KG: When I described that in my open letter, that was when I first started probably 5 or 6 years ago. People are starting to recognize me as a jeweler but when I first started it was very unwelcoming. It was assumed that I was lost or that I wasn’t a jeweler and I would get followed around.

Sometimes when you’re looking for gemstones, it’s a small area, and suppliers would just hold the gemstones and piece it to me while the other white clients could hold things and explore as they pleased. Someone accused me of taking a gemstone and I was very upset. I was like “why would I take a gemstone?” And the gemstone was like fluorite, which is 2 or 3 pounds. So it was like, you’re going to try and say I took something that’s 3 dollars? The jewelry trade, especially Hatton Garden, is all about trust. So it took me a while, it took me years for people to begin trusting me. 

AT: You referred to the jewelry industry as monolithic. What do you credit for the lack of diversity?

KG: So number 1 is visibility. When you think of the term BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic), some people might think of Chinese people or Middle Eastern people or Jewish people. But what’s different is that they are well established. They have their own networks in the jewelry industry, but not Black jewelers that I know of. They’re not as visible. 

It’s pretty heartbreaking that the jewelry industry doesn’t care because they didn’t put the resources out there to show compassion. No one wondered, “why are there no Black people in our courses? Why are there no Black people in our trade shows?” With trade shows, it’s frustrating, I can’t be the only Black jeweler there. I don’t want to be seen strictly as a “Black jeweler.” I just want to be seen as a jeweler and for my merit. I’m not an exotic kind of thing. At times it’s annoying because I don’t always make jewelry that’s “Afro-centric.”

AT: Just because you happen to be Black doesn’t mean you have to make Afro-centric jewelry. You’re allowed to have diverse interests and you don’t want to be pigeonholed.

KG: Absolutely. I’m pigeonholed with Black people as well because Black people don’t really buy from me. And I want to put it out in the universe, I’m not afraid of blackness. My parents are Jamaican and Rastafarian, so I’ve had very strong pan-African roots. 

My jewelry collections are all about space and I like space. So why can’t I do it? Black people will say to me, “why don’t you do Nefertiti and things like that?” But I’ve done it before and you’ve never bought them. So you like me but at the same time, you don’t. You want to invest in me and at the same time, you don’t. I don’t want to be in a box, I want everyone to buy from me. With my work, I’m diverse. I use white models, I use black models and I even use myself. 

I try to cater to everybody but I’m learning in the industry that you can’t please everybody.

AT: In your Instagram Live, you said that we might be over-relying on old models to make a change. What models of change do you find to be paternalistic or outdated?

KG: You know what I just had an epiphany yesterday. I keep saying the jewelry industry but what does that mean? Usually, I mean, the archaic bodies of jewelry that have been around for centuries. It’s the emerging designers that are driving this change. And I’m thinking, “why am I waiting for whatever archaic jewelry body to make a change? If they cared, they would’ve done it.” Why am I waiting? 

4 weeks ago, I had about 1000 followers. All of a sudden, I’ve got 2000 followers. The followers don’t matter. I’m just trying to tell you about the jump. I had a very small following and I made noise about wealth and the system. People have contacted me from India and the U.S. and it’s interesting because I thought my voice didn’t matter. But it seems like it resonates with a lot of people. A lot of people understand that a conversation needs to be had and people want change. All of these people followed me and donated to the fund and responded to the open letter. It seems like it’s the first time we’ve had a diverse inclusion conversation at the global scale in the jewelry industry.