Jewelry With a Shelf Life: How Keef Palas Disrupts the Jewelry Industry

For every person living in countries where this kind of consumption has long been engrained, there are many, many more who are gaining access to fast fashion for the first time in the history of their country. This is to say that even those who reject this system are outnumbered by others who are just beginning to encounter the facility of this shopping practice. It’s a vicious cycle. We aren’t specialists in this field, but it seems as if they’ve invented a perfect system.

The documentary The True Cost was very awakening and we are constantly motivated by all the alternatives to irresponsible consumerism that surround us.

KEEF PALAS instagram page

Keef Palas products are packaged alike to food; dehydrated in plastic with an expiration date. Is this a statement that transcends consumerism in the fashion industry?

It’s linked to the food industry and a revolution within traditional jewelry. We remove the jewels from the safe box and place them in the fridge, making them the coolest jewels (laughs). The vacuum-packed design shows that, like the refrigerated products in the supermarkets, our earrings also should be kept cold and have an expiration date, so they need to be consumed ASAP.

What is the average lifetime of a Keef Palas piece?

We can’t really be certain, and this is a bit of the magic of our project. It depends on many factors: climate, lifestyle… Once, a bride got married wearing a pair of garlic earrings and, while dancing, she ate one! Our jewelry is made to be enjoyed, not to be kept as a possession.

It’s not that the piece dies, it’s that it evolves. For example, on the first day, a pair of magnolias will be green and shiny, and little by little they will dry out. Commercially, we have to think of buying a pair of Keefs the same way we purchase a bouquet from the florist.

You currently sell earrings labeled the Immortelle Flower. As all your products are ephemeral, explain to me this Catch-22?

The ephemerality of our jewelry is a result, unlike diamonds or noble metals, of the fragility of its materials: plants. We believe that Keef Palas is a call from Mother Nature to humankind. Bringing citizens closer to nature can be a way of reminding us of her existence and importance and regenerating our respect for her.

The Immortelle Flower earrings are dry since they bloom, it’s known for its anti-aging effects and we recently found out that they’re also a powerful against mosquitos. We love to be ironic and playful naming our products and collections. In summer, we designed the Eternal Collection, embracing it to be endless. The collection is composed by shell bikinis and glasses, stones and pieces of glass or ceramics that you easily find on Mediterranean coasts.

What role has social media played for Keef Palas?

We decided to only have an online shop and an Instagram account.
It’s our key. As for many other creatives, this platform has become one of our main tools. It connects us with people from all around the globe and so many opportunities have come our way via this platform.

KEEF PALAS homepage

How much notice or care does the average consumer have about the life cycle of their purchased goods?

We get some people asking if we treat the earrings to make them last longer, but, in general, everyone is aware of our concept. Most people who buy a pair of Keef Palas know they are not only purchasing ephemeral earrings but also supporting a statement.

Has this project changed the way you buy into the fashion industry?

Fortunately, we’d already lessened our levels of consumption when Keef Palas was born. If we were to make more money in the future, we like to believe that we’d invest in fashion coherent with our current principles.

Can fast fashion ever be sustainable?

(Laughs) Can capitalism ever be sustainable? We ask ourselves constantly. Since its objective as a business in the textile sector transformed from dressing the public to a simple commercial transaction of whatever goods they please, NO, it cannot. There is likely enough clothing on the planet to dress all of Earth’s inhabitants as well as future generations. We wonder what would happen if, for one year, all textile factories halted production.

How do you want a consumer to feel in a Keef Palas piece?

With this approximation of Nature to humans we want the consumer to feel the tension that exists between the industrial and the natural, to suggest and raise issues about whether we’re ready to live so disconnected from our roots and the consequences that this disconnect can lead to. Keef Palas is an invite to reflection, to dialogue. And after all this consciousness, we want them to wear our pieces with a smile 🙂

Convince me to spend money on luxury fashion I know will perish.

It has to be seen as a statement, an eccentricity or, why not, a joke. There is such a lack of freedom and humor in the world of fashion and arts!