Justice Jewelry

Will Alderfer built a jewelry business based on precision, fine design, inclusivity, and close interaction with folks along the supply chain.

As the owner of W.R. Metalarts in Brattleboro, Vermont, Will Alderfer ’11 likes to say his business and his life are based on the principles, training and relationships he has made, many while at Earlham College. The values at the core of the company’s mission — such as sustainable and ethical sourcing of gemstones and metals, and providing jewelry options outside of the wedding industry — separates Alderfer from the principles that are often missing in mass production, traditional products and origin of materials.

“We put people first, celebrating and supporting inclusivity and fair wages and offering an abundance of support for the people we work with,” he said. “I want people to be seen and celebrated.”

As a metalsmith and jeweler, Alderfer works with a small team to create jewelry that celebrates all experiences and all identities. His training is in silversmithing and bronze casting and his emphasis is on direct customer interaction, acknowledgement and celebration of all types of relationships and a strong commitment to those impacted by the sourcing and production process.

“There is a strong environmental piece for me,” Alderfer said. “We source directly from miners and try to build relationships with folks at all levels of the supply chain. We want to support them directly so we have more transparency and positive impact for people, especially those most impacted.”

But the ethics don’t stop there.

“The other thing that is important to me is our queer identity and queer inclusivity,” he said. “I identify as polyamorous and that reflects our values in business. Lots of the jewelry industry caters to only the heteronormative, traditional relationships. We celebrate all relationships and especially those that are more non-traditional and queer. It is so important to have safe spaces for this. We don’t have men’s rings and women’s rings. We just have rings.”

Alderfer studied blacksmithing in high school and continued that education at Earlham where he was a double major in met-alsmithing and human development and social relations. His training in bronze casting and silversmithing are particularly strong. These endeavors started him on a path of working precisely and thinking deeply. It instilled a concern for the environment, for human rights around the world, for fair trade and social justice issues.

At Earlham, Alderfer found connections and relationships that have sustained him.

“It just felt like home when I went to Earlham,” he said. “I had a strong feeling of community, and I appreciated that.”

His metals professor was Nathan Jones. “We connected right away. He became a lifelong mentor. I learned so much from him,” Aldefer said.

After graduation, Alderfer worked in bronze foundries in Virginia and Boston, concentrating on learning the intricacies of fine art sculpture and public art. “It was truly a great learning experience,” he said.

His work with suppliers and miners confirms his shared beliefs in ethical mining practices and ethical sourcing.

“Going inside a gold mine is amazing,” he said. “We just love connecting with folks, making those direct relationships with miners and stone cutters.”

In his production process, Alderfer uses fair-mined gold to have greater social and environmental impact, and to support gold that is mercury free. Gold mining is one of the leading polluters of mercury in the world, leading to tragic and dramatic poison- ing of people and contamination of the land.

He has visited the fair-mined gold mines in Colombia where he sources gold for Metalarts as well as other jewelers.

“By going into the mines, meeting the miners, we can meet all the people in the supply chain,” he said. “We can talk to them about how they care for the land and what is important to them, principles like reducing contamination and reforestation.

“By building those direct relationships we know what they use in their process and how we can support them,” he said.

Alderfer continues his commitment to change his industry by serving on the advisory board of Ethical Metalsmiths, an organization of caring buyers, jewelers, designers and suppliers whose goal is to inspire responsible practices through education, connection and action.

Metalarts is also built on customer relations as Alderfer and his team work closely with clients, transforming dreams into pieces of jewelry. He offers a personal, collaborative relationship to define and celebrate his customers through jewelry.

Alderfer started his business in 2016 and his then partner, Rosie Nevins-Alderfer ’11, joined him full time in 2018. He has been inspired, supported and sustained by Earlhamites during the eight-year growth of the business.

“For me it is about relationships, and Earlham has been part of that,” he said.

Nevins-Alderfer helped him set up the business online, which became hugely important during the Covid pandemic. She left the company in 2019 to pursue her own career, but the more work Metalarts did the more requests came in.

“We both have different partners now but we still want to co-parent our kiddo in a supportive and loving way. Rosie was an important part of the company, she was hugely instrumental in elevating W.R. Metalarts to be a professional business instead of only a creative studio,” he said.

For Alderfer, the requests have never stopped.

“I told myself I’d get a job when the requests stopped, and eight or nine years later I’m still making rings,” he said.

He hired his first employee in 2020 and now has five, including two Earlham grads.

Vanessa Graham ’09 is the head metal caster for W.R. Metalarts. She has also started her own business, Old Hills Design Company, but enjoys her role at Metalarts.

“I love working for Will because my true love is the making process,” she said. “I love that the art I create is a collaboration with my coworkers and also the customer, and that I get to contribute to an heirloom that will live someone’s life alongside them.

“I also share Will’s ethics for accessibility and sustainability, and am happy to join him in contributing to a greater good in the industry,” she said.

Martin Moon ’13 is the head fabricator and stone setter for Metalarts. While at Earlham, Alderfer was a teaching assistant in Moon’s metals class and accompanied him on a May Term in Turkey.

“I received an incredible education at Earlham,” Moon said. “When Will asked me to join his team I jumped at the chance. Will has been very supportive of me in the many stages of my work. And I’m thrilled that our business is focused on making fine jewelry and doing it in a way that is supportive and inclusive to all people in the chain.”

The business has expanded steadily, doubling in sales in each of its first six years of existence.

The process of production Alderfer follows may be a bit slower and more costly, but he remains true to his belief in unique design and sustainable sourcing. He buys metals for his jewelry designs directly from certified fair-mined gold mines in Colombia and precious stones from small responsible initiatives and transparent operations in the U.S. It is an approach that has sustained him through current challenging times.

“We’ve seen kind of a dip in sales, which I contribute to the political climate right now,” he said. “People are spending less on jewelry at the moment. But we’re still doing a lot of wedding and engagement rings.”

The company has thrived on the ability to adapt and produce.

“Any idea that anyone has we can convert that into jewelry,” Alderfer said. “We remake jewelry. We’ve made things with people’s ashes, with pets’ ashes, with someone’s parents’ or grandparents’ rings. We repair or remake the design that people are excited about.”

A new line of production is in divorce rings.

“We’ve done a bunch of them,” Alderfer said. “We’ve found that people may want closure and may want to honor that relationship moving forward.”

All along his journey, Alderfer has stayed in touch with Earlham friends who ask him to create wedding and anniversary rings and jewelry for them.

Kristen Georgia ’10 worked for Alderfer for a short time and had Metalarts make the wedding rings for her marriage to Andres Guzman ’10.

“It was important that Will and his team make our rings because Earlham is a huge part of my story and Andres’,” Georgia said. “We met at Earlham. I know all the materials that went into the ring, and I was intimately involved in their design and creation.”

Georgia said Metalarts has since made two rings for her and “has made rings for almost every member of my family.”

“I think the reason I refer friends and family to Will is that I’m very appreciative of his process and how inclusive and ethical he is in the work he does,” she said.

Alderfer said he never tires of making connections through his work.

“We are always excited to connect with people,” he said. “If people want to know about this process, we are always happy to share more about it and build direct maker-client relationships. That’s why I am never bored and never dread going to work. It is a dream come true.” ■

Story by Bill Engle. Photos courtesy W.R. Metalarts