Today we’d like to introduce you to Seulye Jo.
Seulye, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always been a creator and maker. Creating something by hand gives me energy and has been an exciting thing for me since I was a child. My idea of fun was taking things apart and putting it together. So I knew at a young age that I wanted to work with my hands and ultimately have my own business.
With a background in visual communication and jewelry design, I started working in the fashion accessory industry. In that industry, I saw the vast amount of plastics and the waste created. It woke me up to the harmful impact these plastics have on our environment as it ends up in the landfill, never to decompose. During this time, I’ve been a vegetarian for a few years and then became fully vegan. I became more aware of the environmental issues not just from consuming meat, but from our lifestyle and fashion as well.
I was constantly thinking about having my own jewelry brand but wasn’t sure what I could use as I did not want any plastics or animal materials. I thought of gemstones used in jewelry, but after studying the damaging effects of mining on the environment and communities, this was out of the question. That year, I went to a beach cleanup, and in addition to finding a substantial amount of plastic and garbage, I came across sea glass. Sea glass is so beautiful and colorful, and I thought it was something I could use. But realistically, sea glass is not easy to find, although I liked the idea of the glass itself. Glass is everywhere around us, so why not use recycled glass. I started testing with used cosmetic bottles and the results turned out great!
I had to find more glass to test, and since I don’t drink, I had to dig through the trash in my apartment complex to find used glass bottles. Every week my partner and I would go to each floor of the building to find glass!
This was how CLED came about. After about a year and a half of testing glass, I started my business. At that point, my partner and I had reached out to dozens of restaurants and bars for their glass bottles, and we found a few places that worked with us and saved us their bottles. We have been in business since September 2018. It’s been a learning experience for me every single day!
Has it been a smooth road?
It’s been a slow and rough road to start this business. By using recycled glass bottles, it took many trials and errors to create our upcycled eco gems that passed my quality standards. Art glass typically has a pre-given temperature to melt and work with. Since I use recycled glass, I had to figure out what temperature to use as all glass have various melting points and expands and contracts at different rates. I still encounter issues when designing a new piece, when the glass doesn’t melt a certain way I expect. I then have to either tweak my design or start over in testing the glass. It’s a never-ending cycle, but it inspires me to find new techniques and ways to design.
When I get overwhelmed with all the work that has to get done, I reflect on why I started this in the first place and what I want to accomplish with CLED. If someone thinks twice about the environmental impact with their purchase of jewelry made from plastic, animal materials, or mined gemstones, I feel I’m doing something right with this business, and I hope it resonates with more people.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the CLED story. Tell us more about the business.
CLED stands for Conscious Lifestyle Earth Friendly & Ethical Design. We are an eco-conscious jewelry brand that upcycles. Instead of using new materials, we use discarded materials and waste, specifically recycled glass bottles. Liquor, wine, cosmetic bottles (or any glass) that are thrown away are repurposed into jewelry.
We create jewelry with our own unique upcycled gems without sacrificing quality and style. Life will be easier if we buy gems from suppliers than making it from scratch. However, I think of the message behind CLED and I’m proud to say that we transform waste into new beautiful objects. Most people hear eco-conscious or sustainable jewelry and naturally think it’s going to be hippie or earthy, but we are trying to change that perspective.
When I formed CLED, I never wanted to use three types of materials commonly found in jewelry: plastics, mined gemstones, and animal materials. That’s how I came to find discarded glass. Sustainability in fashion is growing, but jewelry is still behind. Consumers are seeking alternatives to plastic fabrics, but what about plastic jewelry? Common jewelry you see today are made from polymer clay, acrylic, lucite, resin, and the list goes on, but these are all plastics that are made from fossil fuels and cannot be recycled.
It’s fulfilling to make jewelry from something unexpected. I love seeing people’s reactions when they find out how our jewelry is made. It motivates and encourages me to keep going with this upcycling journey!
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see a shift in the jewelry industry with more sustainable brands. Environmental issues and the effects of climate change are not going away and will only increase. I envision more use of sustainably made materials and waste rather than harmful materials. Consumers now demand more transparency in fashion and jewelry is not far behind. They want to know how the jewelry is made, who made it and where the material was sourced from.
I believe that working with others will create a far-reaching change than just myself. My goal is to have more collaborations with other brands and jewelry designers to reach a broader audience. We’ve collaborated with other companies in using their glass bottles to make a unique jewelry piece. By doing this, we show that any waste can be turned into a new object. In the future, I hope to manufacture upcycled gems that are accessible to anyone who wants to use them as a source for their design.
Pricing:
- $25-300
Contact Info:
- Website: www.THECLED.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/cled/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/cledofficial
Image Credit:
Bliss Kaufman, Justin Officer, Seulye Jo
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