If being certified on sustainability were an Olympic sport, Danielle and Wade Papin, cofounders and designers of Pyrrha, a fine jewelry brand with headquarters in Vancouver, B.C., would be among the most decorated members of the jewelry industry.
Founded in 1995, Pyrrha is best known for its sterling silver and 14k gold Talisman pendants, whose design was inspired by a small box of antique wax seals the Papins discovered in 2000 at an estate sale.
In the activist community, however, Pyrrha’s commitment to doing right for people and planet is the brand’s calling card. The company boasts no fewer than five sustainability-related certifications, including certified B Corp status and membership in the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) and 1% for the Planet. It’s also a Living Wage employer and Butterfly Mark certified by Positive Luxury.
When the Papins founded the company, sustainability was not the capital-C concept it is today, but the married couple always made it a priority to use quality materials, treat workers fairly and vet their suppliers.
“We benefited from starting so painfully small and learning every bit along the way,” Danielle tells JCK. “We were always searching for things that would work that were more friendly to the environment and to us. In our own apartment, we were always adding our own essential oils to things. And as we started to get bigger, we scaled that up. It laid a nice base for us to grow. Again, we grew so slowly we didn’t feel that kind of pressure. It was all our money. We didn’t have people cracking the whip.”
Being self-reliant made Pyrrha’s sustainability commitment easier to uphold. “We always made our jewelry in-house, and that was easier for us to control,” Wade says. “One of the biggest challenges for a lot of jewelry companies is that you don’t know what supplier factories look like or what they’re doing.”
In 2014, Pyrrha became a certified B Corp after the Papins decided it was time to find a third-party certification to validate their claims. “As we got bigger, we started telling people about what we do,” Danielle says. “Lots of people believed us. And then some people said, ‘How do I know that’s true?’ Then we realized B Corp gave us a stamp of authenticity and trust.”
They started with B Corp because the certification was so “all encompassing,” Danielle says.
“It looks at people, planet, social, different kinds of accountability. Not just your supply chain, but how you treat your people, how you buy things. Once we got that, we started looking at industry-specific ones. We went after RJC, which took years to get. Then Positive Luxury. And then of course we’re Living Wage certified for Vancouver, and we see that as part of our sustainability commitment because we look at the whole thing holistically. We don’t just care about trees. And 1% for the Planet we just got a couple years ago. We’re trying to go for more of a broad perspective.”
Lately, the Papins have focused a lot of energy on their newly renovated flagship studio and production tower near Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood (“at 5th and Columbia”), where Pyrrha produces virtually everything in-house. (Pyrrha maintains a second store, in Los Angeles, as well as a thriving wholesale business.)
“In 2009, we bought this house in an industrial area of Vancouver and we worked out of it as our studio for years,” Wade says. “And we eventually outgrew it. We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we could develop it into a production center?’ but the city made it very difficult. The kibosh was put on the plan. But then we revisited it. We started talking to the Vancouver heritage committee and worked with them to get relaxation on things like parking for us to build. We wanted to retain the house and designate it a heritage building.”
Danielle picks up the story: “We moved the house to the front of the lot and on the same piece of property we built a tall, skinny six-story production tower in what used to be the backyard of the house. The house has an office, store, and showroom that’s connected by below-ground courtyard to the production tower.”
The entire build, which began in 2017 and was completed in September 2021, is zero carbon-certified by the Canada Green Building Council and includes geothermal cooling and heating, smart photochromic windows, and cross-laminated timber construction, among other eco-friendly elements.
As they prepare for the upcoming holiday, Pyrrha’s production team will be busy turning out its new diamond crown Talismans in response to customer feedback seeking “more sparkle, more stone action,” Danielle says.
But behind the product, their sustainability efforts are always ongoing. “We’re at the point where we’re obsessing over how far our coffee has to travel,” Wade says.
Top: “Trust the Universe” Diamond Crown Talisman in 14k gold with 0.158 ct. t.w. diamonds, $2,485; Pyrrha
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