Editor’s Note
This article explores how designer Savannah Friedkin is redefining modern luxury by creating emotionally resonant jewelry from fully traceable, certified recycled gold and solar-grown lab diamonds.
Savannah Friedkin reimagines luxury through recycled gold, solar-grown lab diamonds, and an ethos of vulnerability, crafting jewelry that resonates emotionally and ethically.
Her eponymous jewelry brand, which launched last year, is built around that intersection between personal histories and a broader shift in what modern luxury can look like. Friedkin works exclusively with certified recycled gold and solar-powered lab-grown diamonds, all fully traceable. But she resists the idea that sustainability should be the headline. For her, it’s simply the baseline.
The gold used in her collections comes from sources like dental implants, electronic waste, and estate pieces, then realloyed and cast. Her diamonds are lab-grown in solar-powered facilities and tracked through a third-party chain of custody. All vendors are required to maintain certifications such as ISO, RJC, and SCS.
A report from Fortune Business Insights estimated the global lab-grown diamond market at $22.79 billion, expected to more than triple by 2032. The stones, which are indistinguishable from their mined counterparts, offer significant environmental and ethical advantages: significantly less water and energy use, and virtually no land degradation. While natural diamond mining can produce 2 million tons of mineral waste per ton of diamond, lab-grown alternatives generate only about 0.5 kilograms of waste per carat.
Savannah Friedkin doesn’t follow the rules of traditional fine jewelry. Her pieces lean into asymmetry and negative space, often appearing incomplete by design. Instead of polished uniformity, she favors edges, gaps, and unexpected contours — forms that reflect a deeper interest in vulnerability over perfection.
Like Michelle Pfeiffer’s Henry Rose — the first fragrance brand built on full ingredient disclosure and Environmental Working Group certification — Friedkin’s approach to jewelry is rooted in the idea that luxury should never come at the cost of transparency. Both women have created brands that challenge their industries to do better, not through fear or shame, but through radical clarity.
The brand is anchored around three core collections — Broken, Emergence, and SAV — each takes on that idea in a different way. Broken explores visible fracture as a symbol of resilience. Emergence shifts focus to what’s left unseen. SAV is quieter, more pared-back, designed for ease without losing intention.
Friedkin’s intentions became exceptionally clear during a three-day gathering she hosted in April at Auberge’s Susurros del Corazón in Punta Mita, Mexico. She asked me to co-host the final dinner and lead a conversation about what sustainability means. It’s a question most of us struggle with, even and especially for those of us working in the sustainability landscape.
That chat opened up to a wider conversation that dominated our dinner as the group reflected on the abyss of sustainability claims, especially when it comes to corporate responsibility, and how we, as consumers, hold businesses and ourselves accountable.