About

At Upcycle with Jing, we want you to both look and feel good when wearing our jewelry. Every one of our jewelry pieces have been handcrafted from PET plastic bottles we found in Helsinki / Russia.

Fast fashion is no longer the new black. You want to look good and feel good – not just because your new earrings perfectly pull together your look, but because you know when you put those earrings on, you’re making a difference.

For too long now, the environment has been ravaged in search of precious metals that are then used to make traditional forms of jewelry. 

We’re different.

With our jewelry, not only will you wear an exquisitely beautiful necklace, hairpiece, or brooch, but you’ll also give a second life to plastic that would otherwise be left to pollute the environment.

You proudly show off exactly who you are in everything you wear. Time to show everyone that sustainability is in style, and it’s not going anywhere.

 

About our Jewelry

Our inspiration is what we set out to save – nature. Everything in our collection is a tribute to and embodiment of the beauty of flowers. Flowers are delicate and gorgeous – and so is our jewelry. Every brooch, hairpiece, necklace, and pair of earrings is handcrafted to finessed perfection.

When choosing the materials to make our jewelry, we’re mindful of every decision we make. We considered different aspects of the materials we need when we chose them – from how they look aesthetically to what their environmental impact is. 

For our jewelry pieces, we use: 

• Plastic bottles
• Brass 
• Recycled plastic beads 

PET Plastic Bottles 

Finland has a great recycling record. Around 90% of plastic bottles are recycled consistently. Because of this amazing recycling rate, we don’t use plastic bottles that are easily recycled. We focus on non-recyclable bottles found in Helsinki (like oil bottles or soya sauce bottles) and Russia that otherwise wouldn’t have a second life. By focusing on these bottles, we’re able to give a second life to a lot of plastic bottles and keep them out of our environment. 

Brass 

We choose brass because it has a lower CO2 impact than pure gold or pure silver. Our metal parts are fully brass and coated with a thin layer of 14k gold or silver. We source these parts from China and, although it can be harder to trace mined metal, we know that our materials have a lower impact than other mined metals. 

Recycled Plastic Beads 

The plastic beads we use look like pearls, but aren’t real pearls because the harvesting process of pearls isn’t in line with our ethical values. We get our beads from Nihtisilta recycling center, which means we’re using second-hand beads for the majority of our creations. Only a fraction of our beads are bought from craft stores or sourced from China. Most come from the recycling center so we can give a second life to them, just like the plastic bottles. 

 

How We Support Local Jobs

We recruit makers for our team locally in Finland. Many of them are immigrants and stay-at-home mums and we focus on providing them a stress-free work environment that also supports their well-being. The result is a job that they love doing and wholeheartedly support. We carefully train them in the process of making our jewelry, and they’ve said that the process is meditative and stress-relieving. We’re sure to curate a work environment that cares about each maker personally – their well-being always comes first and they’re able to make the jewelry at home in their free time.

We are extremely proud to announce that we’ve been awarded the Key Flag Symbol mark.

⁠Key Flag Symbol is a registered collective mark. It demonstrates that the product has been manufactured or the service has been produced in Finland, creating Finnish jobs. The objective of the Key Flag Symbol mark of origin is to provide information on the Finnish origin of a product or service and its contribution to Finnish work.⁠ We’re proud to produce local jobs, stimulate our local economy, and represent high-quality Finnish craftsmanship. 

 

What Is Sustainable Jewelry? 

Sustainability is creating a relationship with the earth that is balanced. We can’t keep taking earth’s resources and not replenish them. We can’t continue to use single-use plastics and expect our environment to recover without taking action. 

This isn’t news to you. You’re well aware of the current environmental crisis because you care about our earth. And you’re done supporting companies that don’t take aggressive action to protect our oceans, our forests, our mountains, and our wildlife. Because at the end of the day, what’s going to create large-scale change is money, since that’s what the large corporations care about. So, by supporting businesses aligned with your values, you’re creating real change. 

Sustainability is at the forefront of what we do. We upcycle, which means that we use discarded materials to create new items. We work some magic to turn tossed plastic bottles into stunning, handcrafted, upcycled jewelry pieces that you won’t see anywhere else. This gets plastic out of our environment, where it would be a destructive nuisance, and into your hands as a life-long, one-of-a-kind accessory to use for any occasion. 

 

Why Is Plastic a Problem? 

Plastic is a major problem because it doesn’t decompose. Many plastics are only used once and then they’re thrown away. They accumulate in landfills, take over our oceans, and destroy the beauty of our natural landscapes. 

They end up breaking down into tiny pieces and are then consumed by animals. Because of this, the toxic effects of plastics end up in the bellies of wildlife up and down the food chain. 

Even when you put plastic in a recycling bin, there’s no guarantee it will be recycled. Many countries don’t have strong enough systems in place to process all the plastic being recycled – so they still end up in our environment. 

We’re committed to doing our part in handling the plastic problem through upcycling. We use PET plastic bottles that we find in Helsinki to create each unique jewelry piece. This is the plastic that makes up the bottles that commonly hold soda and water. We’re making sure our city stays beautiful and giving nature a chance to stay plastic-free.

 

Our Mission

Our mission is simple yet profound: 

To elevate a wearer’s self-confidence through uniquely styled, sustainable jewelry, and lessen our collective waste output in the process.

Recycling and reusing are crucial behaviors that we should all adopt in our lives. Our actions truly make a difference in the amount of waste we produce. This allows us to have a positive impact on the planet instead of a negative one. 

It isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it. At Upcycle with Jing, we refuse to participate in harmful mining or production practices. We’re different because we craft with repurposed materials and style our collections in the name of fashion and ethics.

And we aren’t stopping with just our jewelry…  

Within the next 15 years, we see ourselves as a leading voice in a community of upcyclers, with the goal of annually transforming a minimum of 80 tons of unused waste into valuable products.

You aren’t someone who just wants a new jewelry piece. You’re someone who wants to make a difference in the world with your purchase, with your fashion choices. When you support us, you’re becoming part of the positive change in the world. You’re committing to put your euro behind a company that: 

• doesn’t cut corners
• ensures sustainability at each step in our process
• is devoted to helping other businesses do the same 

Together, we can handle plastic – no problem.  

 

Our Values

We have four main values that we uphold in our business: 

Sustainable Living – To make manufacturing, selling, and purchasing choices that do less harm and prepare the path towards revitalizing the world’s ecosystems.

Personalized Beauty – To encourage custom looks that represent the wearer and speak to their life journey.

Social Responsibility – To do well by our neighbors, making choices that are just and morally sound. We also strive to provide job opportunities for local crafters and disabled people.

Environmental Stewardship – To promote environmental prosperity and resilience, safeguarding the world for ourselves and future generations.

 

Our Social Responsibility

The environment means a lot to us. That’s why we’re leading the way with upcycled jewelry for any occasion. We make sure your euro goes further than just buying our products. That’s why 7% of all profit generated on this website is donated to Project Greenhands, an environmental outreach project aimed at significantly increasing the green cover in a southern state in India.

 

Hi, I’m Jing.

I began my journey in China, where I pursued studies in industrial design. Shortly after beginning my academics, the interest I had in studies quickly evaporated as I came to notice the foundations of my career pursuits were wastefully exploiting precious resources for structures that only further harmed the environment. It was at this important moment that I embraced my true calling.

I wasted no time in moving to Finland, where I redirected my energies into researching single-used plastic upcycling. Here, I would study sustainable waste practices and author a compelling thesis focused on the value of this process. But my journey wouldn’t end there. I stood up the first iteration of my current business at Aalto University, selling upcycled jewelry to the local community. I could never have imagined the level of demand that would follow, or where it would lead me.

Today, I operate my business from my home in Finland, the country that showed me how one person’s waste can truly become another person’s treasure. Ever since, I have served as an enthusiast for environmentally conscious production methods and remain a passionate supporter of jewelry that not only accents but represents the unique personality inside of each and everyone one of us.