Brand Feature \\ Good Gold

At Wild Hearts are so fortunate to get to work with and alongside the nations top creative businesses in the wedding industry- the amazing companies that work 24/7 to help create their client’s dream day. With all the talent behind the scenes, we wanted to put the spotlight onto some of our favourite in the industry and share some insight and inspiration into their brand.

When it comes to choosing your wedding rings, how often do you check where your gold or metal has been sourced? Or about the waste involved in making your jewellery? We found one kiwi business that is leading the way with ‘The world’s most ethical wedding bands.’ After joining us in Auckland for our biggest NZ Wedding Fair, we wanted to share with you all more behind the amazing things this homegrown business is doing for our planet, from sourcing gold right here in New Zealand, to their clever packaging designs made from recycled takeaway coffee cups. Check out why we love Gold Gold!

Tell us a bit about Good Gold? who is part of the team and how you began…

Good Gold is a family business started by Ash Hilton and his Sister Siggy who challenged themselves to create the world’s most ethical wedding band. They’ve worked together for the last 15 years as Ash Hilton Jewellery and where they reckon they’ve made over 10,000 wedding rings. The team is rounded out by Laurel Hilton, Ash’s wife who’s the CEO and Tamsin our Customer Service extraordinaire.

What goes into making the worlds most ethical wedding ring?

Quite a lot really! We use only New Zealand Alluvial Gold that’s washed from mountains and rivers with water instead of dug out of giant pit mines and extracted from rocks with cyanide like traditionally mined metal. By using alluvial gold from NZ, we know that workers have been paid a fair wage and that strict environmental checks are in place. Traditionally mined gold produces 10 tonnes of mining waste per wedding ring! Our gold produces zero.
We also practice super strict workshop processes to make sure we’re not putting nasties into waterways, we drive an electric vehicle, we pay everyone a living wage and donate a percentage of our profits to charity. We are also in the process of becoming a B-Corp. From re-using sticky tape to eliminating plastic from all of our packaging, we think about every detail to make sure it aligns with our brand.

Where in New Zealand do you source your gold?

All of our gold comes from the South Island.

What inspires your designs?

We keep our designs really simple but super thoughtful. Ash and Siggy are inspired by all the little details that go into making a ring that you want to wear every day-they have drawn out conversations about the perfect inside edge and how to make square profile ring super comfortable to wear. We only make plain bands, but they tell an amazing story-made with good gold, by real people in our little workshop in Nelson.

Even your packaging is mindfully designed, who made these and what was the inspiration behind your Good Gold packaging?

We love our ring boxes! We have a thing about packaging that just gets thrown away, so we thought looooong and hard about how to make something that is beautiful but also really functional. The thing about wedding rings is that you always wear them, so their box usually sits empty on a shelf somewhere. Ash had the idea to make ours the same shape and size as a little book, so that it could live on a bookshelf. Inside, we include a care kit so anytime you need to polish up your ring, you can grab the book from the shelf.

We worked with super-genius Mat Bogust of Think Packaging to make our dreams come true and we couldn’t be happier. It’s so exciting when you get to work with someone so passionate about what they do, he’s such a craftsman. He found this beautiful paper for the boxes, it’s called Extract and it’s made from recycled takeaway coffee cups.

Do you have any tips for buying a wedding ring? Especially when it comes to the groom’s band?

For a lot of people getting married, this is their first time ever buying or wearing a ring so it can feel super-overwhelming! I think a good first step is to figure out what width you’d like to wear. We have a PDF on our website that you can print that has strips in all the various widths that you can cut out to see what looks good on your hand. From there you can start thinking about what colour gold you’d like – rose, white or yellow and then the karat, 9, 14 or 18. And if you get lost along the way, ask for help! Most jewellers can walk you through all the decisions.