Savannah Friedkin reimagines luxury through recycled gold, solar-grown lab diamonds, and an ethos of vulnerability, crafting jewelry that resonates emotionally and ethically.
Savannah Friedkin doesn’t follow the rules of traditional fine jewelry. Her pieces lean into asymmetry and negative space, often appearing incomplete by design. Instead of polished uniformity, she favors edges, gaps, and unexpected contours — forms that reflect a deeper interest in vulnerability over perfection.
“When I began designing, I really thought of my designs as more of an art object,” Friedkin told me via email. “I had a message inside of me that I felt I needed to convey concerning the brokenness of the luxury industry. That story became entangled with the brokenness of women I’ve seen in my own life.”
Her eponymous jewelry brand, which launched last year, is built around that intersection between personal histories and a broader shift in what modern luxury can look like. Friedkin works exclusively with certified recycled gold and solar-powered lab-grown diamonds, all fully traceable. But she resists the idea that sustainability should be the headline. For her, it’s simply the baseline.
“I was so excited to launch my own brand, one that didn’t have the transparency issues I had run into so often as a consumer,” she says. “I’ve always been drawn to innovation, especially when it can push us toward a better future.”
Like Michelle Pfeiffer’s Henry Rose — the first fragrance brand built on full ingredient disclosure and Environmental Working Group certification — Friedkin’s approach to jewelry is rooted in the idea that luxury should never come at the cost of transparency. Both women have created brands that challenge their industries to do better, not through fear or shame, but through radical clarity. Where Pfeiffer peeled back the mystique of scent formulation, Friedkin is doing the same with gold and diamonds, proving that emotional resonance and supply chain accountability can, and should, coexist.
The brand is anchored around three core collections — Broken, Emergence, and SAV — each takes on that idea in a different way. Broken explores visible fracture as a symbol of resilience. Emergence shifts focus to what’s left unseen. SAV is quieter, more pared-back, designed for ease without losing intention.
Friedkin’s intentions became exceptionally clear during a three-day gathering she hosted last April at Auberge’s Susurros del Corazón in Punta Mita, Mexico, where I was part of a small group of editors and creatives invited to experience the brand’s world up close. She asked me to co-host the final dinner and lead a conversation about what sustainability means. It’s a question most of us struggle with, even (and especially) for those of us working in the sustainability landscape.
That chat opened up to a wider conversation that dominated our dinner as the group reflected on the abyss of sustainability claims, especially when it comes to corporate responsibility, and how we, as consumers, hold businesses and ourselves accountable. It was a lively discussion, fitting of the “wild women” retreat theme. Friedkin, though, always soft-spoken, thoughtful, and composed, spent most of the evening listening. She is both consumer and business owner, and these questions seemed to necessitate a personal dialogue of sorts for her.
There’s an ongoing litmus test for Friedkin; she is routinely taking stock of her work, herself, and how she’s impacting the world around her. “Launching a brand has forced me to come face-to-face with some of my own imperfections,” she says. “There’s always that worry of saying the wrong thing, being misunderstood, or that my designs won’t resonate. But I’ve learned that even if something scares me, it usually means it matters to me.”
As the brand has grown, so have the moments where she’s felt uncertain or out of her depth, Friedkin says. “But speaking openly about those feelings, especially around imposter syndrome, has helped me connect deeply with other women, particularly female founders. There’s so much strength in naming those insecurities and realizing you’re not alone. That honesty has led to some really meaningful friendships and connections.”
Her designs, like her process, are built around that tension: between restraint and expression, between tradition and challenge. She describes the initial impulse behind her brand as emotional rather than strategic. “In the beginning, I really started with emotion. I was inspired by the women I admire most, their emotional journeys, their resilience, and the way they connect with one another. I felt I had something to say about both sustainability and the inner lives of women.”
The pieces in the Broken collection feature crack-like etchings, offset structures, and closures that deliberately resist symmetry. Emergence brings in open forms, rings, and pendants defined as much by what isn’t there as what is. “Right now, I’m very inspired by negative space,” Friedkin says. “I try to use negative space as much as material to show how important the things that are unseen are to the overall design.”
That philosophy extends to the wearer. “That really relates to women,” she continues, “how we’ve often been taught to hide the things that make us ‘imperfect.’ You know, cover them up, don’t let them show, always smile, always be polite. But underneath, there’s so much beauty, our pasts, our imperfect bodies, our quiet struggles. That unseen part of our story is still deeply beautiful and essential to our overall composition.”
Friedkin is clear that not everyone will connect with her aesthetic. For her, one of the most eye-catching and compelling elements a design can have is asymmetry. “I’ve always been attracted to clothing, architecture, etc., that has a sort of imbalance in some way,” she says. “There are definitely people that love the designs that I create, and some people the work doesn’t speak to as much,” she says. “Maybe that is because of the sustainability mission or maybe just the look of them. I think that’s okay. If you make something that’s so perfect everyone loves, maybe you’re not starting as much of a conversation.”
The commitment to conversation starters goes beyond the designs; Friedkin is pushing the boundaries on real-world considerations that haven’t been explored before in fine jewelry. “I started my brand knowing I wanted to address sustainability issues in the jewelry space and because I couldn’t really find a jewelry company that aligned with my personal values,” she says. “I could see the conversation being had in fashion pertaining to clothing, shoes, and handbags, but I didn’t see it evolving in the same way with jewelry.”
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to always be learning. There will always be people who know more than you, so listen to them, be thorough, be patient, stay on mission, and know what you’re not willing to compromise on.
-Savannah Friedkin
Friedkin is part of a small but growing cohort of designers like Jean Dousset, Anabela Chan, and Oscar Massin, who only use lab-grown diamonds and post-consumer recycled gold, avoiding newly mined materials altogether. “We like to say, ‘The only carrots we take from the earth are the ones we eat. Not the gold karats or diamond carats,’” she says. The gold used in her collections comes from sources like dental implants, electronic waste, and estate pieces, then realloyed and cast. Her diamonds are lab-grown in solar-powered facilities and tracked through a third-party chain of custody. All vendors are required to maintain certifications such as ISO, RJC, and SCS.
“Our supply chain is extremely narrow, and honestly, it would’ve been easier to let a few things slide, to skip the full accreditation and just make vague sustainability claims online,” she says. “But that’s exactly what frustrated me as a consumer, and it’s not what I want to do with this brand. I want to do better for our customers, the best we possibly can, and to keep improving and learning along the way. The biggest lesson I’ve learned is to always be learning. There will always be people who know more than you, so listen to them, be thorough, be patient, stay on mission, and know what you’re not willing to compromise on.”
Friedkin isn’t alone in that philosophy. Consumers are increasingly taking note and opting for transparency and responsibility in their purchases. A 2023 report from Fortune Business Insights estimated the global lab-grown diamond market at $22.79 billion, expected to more than triple by 2032. The stones, which are indistinguishable from their mined counterparts, offer significant environmental and ethical advantages: significantly less water and energy use, and virtually no land degradation. While natural diamond mining can produce 2 million tons of mineral waste per ton of diamond, lab-grown alternatives generate only about 0.5 kilograms of waste per carat.
Despite efforts like the Kimberley Process and decades of reform, reports of labor exploitation, unsafe working conditions, and conflict financing persist in several major diamond-producing regions. In some mines, workers earn less than $2 per day, and child labor remains a documented concern, particularly in parts of Africa and India. According to Human Rights Watch, many major jewelry companies still lack full traceability in their supply chains, making it difficult for consumers to know whether a mined stone has contributed to human rights abuses.
I just want to offer a way in, whether someone’s already interested or just curious.
-Savannah Friedkin
Being the first brand to exclusively offer SCS-certified lab-grown diamonds was a milestone for Friedkin. “It felt like a huge accomplishment,” she says, crediting her team for making what seemed impossible a reality. “Our team travels to our manufacturers to audit the facilities, and we use a third-party system to follow the chain of custody of our lab-grown diamonds. We also make sure our vendors obtain specific certifications in the industry to meet our standards (ISO, RJC, SCS to name a few). This is the only way we can be certain we know where the lab-grown diamonds and gold are coming from,” she says.
Still, she resists framing her brand as a singular solution. “I want to build a brand that makes people feel confident and informed about what they’re buying, without shaming anyone for their other choices,” she says. “I just want to offer a way in, whether someone’s already interested or just curious.”
Her third collection, SAV, is the most minimal. The silhouettes are clean, designed for everyday wear, and perhaps the most universal of the three. But even here, the message is the same. “What I’m really trying to express with this line is that there isn’t just one type of person I picture wearing the jewelry,” Friedkin says. “It’s someone who recognizes that one woman can be many things, soft and caring, but also fiercely protective, intelligent, but also silly.”
For Friedkin, jewelry is not just an adornment; it can also be an emotional record. “That’s how I first fell in love with jewelry,” she says. “It was my mother’s, it sparkled, it made me feel beautiful, it belonged to my grandmother. Jewelry carries so many layers of meaning.”
Even now, as the brand finds new audiences through word of mouth and intimate events, Friedkin remains close to her mission. “The women I imagine wearing these pieces are the ones who want to share their stories, build community, and care not just about each other, but about our collective future,” she says. “I think women have an incredibly strong role in guiding that future. As creators of life and caretakers, not to diminish men’s roles, but there’s something very powerful and unique in how women move through the world together. I’m drawn to designing for women who want to embrace their full selves, be proud of their actions, and keep building something meaningful as they move forward.”
But, she says she’s also thinking about how to create pieces that speak to even more women, while making the message behind the brand even clearer. “The jewelry space is crowded with trends,” Friedkin says. “How do you protect your sense of direction without tuning out the cultural moment? I don’t really think too much about what’s trendy or not. I try to stay focused on what resonates with me aesthetically,” she says.
“I don’t do any sort of trend forecasting, but if there’s something happening creatively or culturally that inspires me, I’ll ride that wave, just not from a trend-driven perspective. It’s more about following what feels honest and meaningful in the moment.”
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