Events & Awards

Responsible Sourcing Expert to Keynote Portland Symposium

Events & AwardsAug 18, 2016

Responsible Sourcing Expert to Keynote Portland Symposium

Bennett Freeman, who has helped promote sustainability and human rights globally, will speak at the ninth annual Portland Jewelry Symposium in October.


Portland, Ore.--This year’s Portland Jewelry Symposium, the ninth to be held, aims to highlight responsible sourcing for the audience of jewelers and designers.

The event will be led by keynote speaker Bennett Freeman, who has worked in global corporate governance and at the State Department, and has been involved in setting policy for human rights standards for the oil and mining industries.

The Portland Jewelry Symposium is scheduled for Oct. 2 to 3 at the Sentinel Hotel in downtown Portland, Ore.

Two others also will speak to responsible sourcing at the event--Toby Pomeroy, a designer who works with Fairmined gold, and Stewart Grice, vice president for Mill Products at Hoover & Strong, who will share his recent experiences with fair mining gold practices in Peru.

Other presentations to be given at the event are “Lean Manufacturing Principles” from Andrea Hill, “Successful Casting of 3-D Printed Acrylics” from James Binnion of James Binnion Metal Arts and “SEO and Maximizing Web Presence” by Lake Giles of Thinkspace, among others.

In addition, Gillian Frances of TechForm will moderate a panel about selling custom jewelry with Jim Tuttle of Greenlake Jewelry, Travis Issacson of Lashbrook and Jennifer Dawes of Dawes Designs, and Phil Scott of Rio Grande will host bench demonstrations with a focus on “Innovations in Finishing.”

Early bid registration is $185 until Sept. 9, at which point it increases to $210. For more information or to register for the event, visit PortlandJewelrySymposium.com.

“We are excited to be exploring the topic of Responsible Sourcing this year in addition to our full program,” founder Teresa Frye said. “Increasing interest from the consumers on the origins of precious metals and stones is something that the industry will strongly benefit from learning more about.”
Ashley Davisis the senior editor, fashion at National Jeweler, covering all things related to design, style and trends.

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