Ethics policy

Each Jorum Studio collection, project, collaboration and commission shares a vision to create considered and high quality products to highlight a modern lifestyle. We celebrate craft and hope our products delight as well as challenge our customers. Whilst having fun, it is our ultimate goal to always operate ethically - no matter what.

Valuing people

As part of our core values, we champion artisans and craftspeople, as we too are artisanal operators whom believe in the inherent value of hand workmanship and creative thinking. We commission works by artists, artisans and creatives across a plethora of disciplines and allow each the freedom to create in response to our collections, individual works or as they please.

When works are not commissioned, we collaborate with decent people. This collaboration manifests itself as a responsive work. Jorum Studio pledges to cover the expenses incurred by collaborators. Each finished work will be presented on our website and other represented sites. It is our pledge to those whom we collaborate with to transfer all profits raised from the sale of any collaborative work to them. In the interest of full transparency, Jorum Studio may require deducting transaction fees if pieces are sold via our payment platforms. It is our aim with Jorum Studio to champion and work with emerging talent collaboratively without exploiting artists creatively or financially.

Jorum Studio is a fragrance brand and as such we require marketing and distributing our products continually. We partner with our selected artists to showcase our collections, placing these works front and centre when it comes to our press activities and campaigns.

At Jorum Studio we are passionate about the people we work with and their individual skills, stories and experiences. We routinely share these via our social media and newsletters. It is our goal to create and co-create products and experiences which combine to build a community with integrity and authenticity.

Minimising our impact on the planet

Our environmental approach is always to try balance our impact and to continually improve.

The notion of a ‘clean’ perfume is almost comical. Products using 100% natural origin raw material harvests and extraction have an ecological and environmental impact as do chemical manufacturing processes.

As an industry, we need to ensure that if we are yielding a harvest of a natural raw materials that we are doing so sympathetically and at the very least, replacing what we take. When manufacturing chemicals we must ensure that this is done as efficiently and as cleanly as possible. There is a lot of myths surrounding the industry. The cosmetics industry is not green by any stretch of the imagination however the leading raw material suppliers invest many tens if not hundreds of millions of pounds and collectively billions of pounds into conservation and reducing their respective environmental impact - but you rarely hear that side of the story.

Our suppliers have innovative environmental standards that support our aims. When selecting new suppliers we always look for a shared approach to environmental standards.

At Jorum Studio we aim for continual improvement in our own environmental standards.

Aromatic materials

When possible we work with fair trade co-operatives when sourcing our raw materials directly and ensure each of our suppliers operate both responsibly and ethically – our values must be shared. Within our supply chain we are continually building closer ties with our suppliers and ensure that our raw materials are also sourced ethically and responsibly.

Jorum Studio uses noble raw materials. Natural origin and manufactured – we do not discriminate. A fine balance of both makes for a more sustainable and ecologically sounder end product. 

By overall industry standards we use a relatively high proportion of natural origin raw materials, as well as manufactured materials; aromatic chemicals. We also use a high proportion of natural isolates, biochemical derived materials and a plethora of natural materials that are the result of sophisticated extraction and co-distillation methods.

We subscribe to the notion that only the finest materials are worth working with and by finest we don’t just mean eye-wateringly expensive. Economical materials are just as valid in the creation process as the expensive ones. We focus on the aromatic quality of the end product and the creativity within, using the right materials to execute our vision irrespective of cost.

As part of our development plans we are experimenting with in-house distillation and extract products to move towards a further integrated and circular model as we diversify into the raw material supply chain in the not too distant future.

It is wrongly assumed that natural materials are better, both for personal use and in the ecological sense. At Jorum Studio, we love natural materials but they are no safer or healthier than their manufactured counterparts. We often hear arguments that manufactured materials have grave ecological impact on the environment however many manufactured raw materials have a lower ecological impact than natural material harvests and vice-versa, and it all depends on where, how and from whom these materials are sourced. Cutting to the chase, no perfume has a clean footprint, but as a business and as an industry it is our duty to find the cleanest and safest pathways for our products be that raw materials, delivery systems or packaging.

As a vertically integrated company, we have spent a decade building our supply chain and have ensured that every raw material we use is sourced from a responsible supplier.

At Jorum, we work with suppliers who have the cleanest and importantly most efficient processes, plant and machinery operated by the most skilled and knowledgeable staff whose safety and well-being is paramount. As most of our raw materials are sourced via multi-national corporations each with public corporate responsibility manifestos we are ensured that our raw materials are being supplied as fit for use and as sensitively to the planet and people as possible.

We are always conscious and consider each material and the impact its harvest and or production has on the wider environment.

No Jorum product uses banned or endangered raw materials.

Packaging materials

We wish to create products that, whilst being functional, are well designed with the hope that even the outer packaging is kept from landfill. With that being said, we have tried to ensure that if a customer wishes to dispose of the entire presentation, that most of our packaging can be readily disposed of and recycled.

We aim to minimise packaging and where possible we use recyclable or biodegradable materials.

We source our bottles from a UK company; these are made from recyclable glass.

Unfortunately there is a level of plastic being used in our bottle systems which may not be recyclable. As we are dealing with chemicals (natural and manufactured) there needs to be a complete chemical resistance factor. Many recyclable plastics are not chemical resistant. Whenever possible we will be innovating upon this aspect of our operation.

Our boxes, inserts and labels are made sustainably here in the UK too.

It is always our aim at Jorum Studio to present our products in a manner which is sustainable and has the lowest impact on our environment without compromising on quality. This can be a huge challenge as a small start-up brand like Jorum. We are continually brainstorming and working with our reactive packaging suppliers but generally speaking, the cosmetics packaging industry moves at a slow pace.

All of our paper based packaging such as boxes are made here in the UK and require a high level of hand-workmanship. Our supplier is committed to reducing their own footprint too, which means we benefit from this. As our packaging is made in the UK and not outsourced to overseas suppliers, we can ensure that all environmental and humanitarian standards are being adhered to.

Animal products

Any mention of an animal based raw materials by Jorum Studio is referring to reconstitutions i.e. mixtures made using natural origin raw materials (plants, flowers, seeds etc.) and/or molecules, to recreate the scent of animalic aromas. Notes such as Castoreum, Civet and Musk are all manufactured materials and do not contain any animal products.

We only use three animal by-products in our laboratory: Beeswax absolute, Hyraceum (from the waste of Hyrax) and beach-combed Ambergris (a bilious excretion from Sperm Whales). In all three cases the animal is not harmed as the raw materials are a naturally excreted by-product (waste, essentially). These materials are rarely used and currently do not feature in any Jorum Studio product. If these materials are used within a composition, we will highlight this to help with your purchasing decision.

If you require further clarity please email us: hello@jorumstudio.com.

Animal testing

None of our products are tested on animals nor do we sponsor any testing on animals anywhere in the world. Thankfully, it is illegal to test cosmetics products on animals in the UK and EU.

Each of the materials we use are traceable. We only use materials which are not actively tested on animals.

Raw materials

Each of the raw materials supplied to us go through rigorous quality and safety tests. As a responsible operator, it is our duty to shed light on how the entire industry operates regarding the testing of individual materials on animals.

Within the fragrance and flavour industry, the universal position on animal testing of individual raw materials (natural and manufactured) subscribes to the three-R’s: replacement, reduction and refinement. Each of our suppliers invest heavily in the development of replacements for animal testing. The testing of specific raw materials may only be required to meet global regulatory and legislative requirements, for example under regional and national chemical regulations requiring the assurance of the safety of chemicals for workers and consumers. If testing of a raw material is required, said material must be tested in order to comply with government requirements.

Each of our suppliers continually contribute to the development of in-vitro methods in testing ingredients for skin sensitisation. Each of our suppliers are committed to developing alternatives to animal testing and each subscribe to ‘last resort’ policy i.e. only if government(s) require an individual raw material to be tested on animals and there are no other testing alternatives available, irrespective of cost implications. Individual raw materials will only be tested if required to do so by government agencies and no testing will ever be performed for the purposes of Cosmetics Regulation in the EU. Although the UK has now left the EU, Jorum Studio will continue to adhere to EU rules.

We source our raw materials from the market leaders and at Jorum Studio we also source direct from small co-operatives and artisanal producers, too. With each new raw material we add to our laboratories inventory, we ensure that the supply of a raw material does not require continual and active animal testing.

Compounds
None of our suppliers perform animal testing on compounds (blended raw material mixtures for flavour and fragrance).

Our suppliers

We have worked with our suppliers for many years. Our suppliers share our own standards which is one of the main reasons we continue to work with them. The standards we have set upon ourselves are our own and are linked fundamentally to our core values but are based on the International Labour Organisations core Conventions and the Conventions on the Rights of the Child which require the following:

- Compliance with local labour law

- Statutory pay and working hours

- The right to organise and bargain collectively

- A ban on child labour

- A ban on discrimination

- A ban on forced labour

- Health and safety in the workplace

- Compliance with local environmental legislation

Our mission continued

At Jorum Studio we champion the creative and liberal arts. We have worked with and enabled artists, individuals and businesses create something unique in their respective spaces in the world. At Jorum Studio, it is our aim to continue this journey, reaching even more people with our own and our collaborators work.

Ultimately, we aim to design and make good things that will delight our customers; that will allow us to continue creating original products, and will help support artisans and craftspeople. With any hope, Jorum Studio will allow us, our collaborators and suppliers to make a living. It is our obligation to balance our impact on the world by continually reviewing our processes and products.

Jorum Studio thrives in a diverse environment. By continually collaborating and commissioning artists, artisans and craftspeople from wide and varied backgrounds we hope to build a community which creates works which bring joy to those whom seek it. Ultimately, a culturally diverse organisation enriches what we do which influences the products we create and therefore present for sale.

Fundamentally, we truly understand that perfume and art is not a necessity for life and as such we aim to have fun with what we do at all times with the hopes being that we entertain and delight our customers - otherwise there is no point in doing it, right?

It is our mission to create considered, innovative and original products using only the finest raw materials we can source and afford. We want to offer exceptionally crafted products with integrity and sincerity, with a creative and ethical point of view that people can relate to.