CARE ADVICE & MATERIALS
At Zest Design, we set high standards to bring you jewelry of the highest quality and durability. Below you will find information about our selected gold & silver, why we use it, and how to best care for it.
To ensure that your jewelery retains its eternal shine and is passed on for generations to come, we have put together some general advice and tips to avoid unnecessary wear and tear that can affect their luster.
SILVER
Silver has a beautiful shine, but over time it can darken through oxidation when in contact with the oxygen and hydrogen sulfide in the air. In order to preserve its luster, certain maintenance is therefore required to avoid and remedy this.
Our jewelry is created from 925 sterling silver, a silver material that is ideal for jewelry making. Pure silver is too soft to be used alone, and is therefore not durable to make jewelry with. Sterling Silver consists of 92.5% pure silver and is alloyed with other high quality metals to achieve the best possible strength and durability. This is why our jewelry has optimal durability and longevity.
Sterling silver cannot rust and has an extremely high silver content, which means you can wear our jewelry around the clock - shower, sleep and swim with it - thanks to its solidity and quality.
Guidelines for optimal jewelry care:
1. KEEP SAFE AND SEPARATE
By protecting your silver jewelry separated from each other in a jewelry box, bag or similar, you protect them from unnecessary wear and tear and reduce the risk of scratches and other things. Since silver jewelry can also oxidize faster if they are placed against each other, it is good to think about storing silver jewelry separately. The oxidation causes them to discolour and can look "dirty", which can be prevented by storing them separately.
NOTE: Don't worry if your silver jewelry oxidizes, as there are several methods to clean it at home. However, if your jewelry has been exposed to wear and tear, such as deeper scratches, you can of course return it to us for polishing and cleaning.
2. AVOID UNNECESSARY WEAR
Of course, we want your jewelry to be with you and worn everywhere, but maybe not always. In order not to expose your jewelry to wear and scratches, it is strongly recommended that you take it off during physical activities such as strength training, hobbies, contact sports, or the like.
To extend the life of your silver jewelry, it is wise to remove it when swimming in pools or visiting spas, as chlorine can greatly accelerate the oxidation of the silver.
Please note that our jewelry is not plated, so you don't have to worry about "polishing" color or quality should you need to clean it. You can polish them without any problems, just be careful to avoid scratches.
GOLD
In order for gold to be used in jewelry making, it must be alloyed (mixed) with other metals to become sufficiently durable and strong. Otherwise, the gold would be far too soft and fragile to be worn as jewelry. When gold is mixed with other metals such as silver, its luster is retained, while its durability increases significantly. This means that some of the best solid gold jewelry is between 10k -18k gold. That's why we create gold-filled jewellery, to optimize the lifespan and give them an eternal shine. Gold jewelry made in this way never loses its luster, or risks tarnishing over time. They remain beautiful and golden.
Many other jewelry manufacturers sell jewelry with 24K plating, which means that the jewelry has a thin outer layer of gold. What plating means, however, is that the gold disappears with use, and the ring's core of usually base metals (copper, nickel, etc.) peeks through. Zest Design does not manufacture jewelry this way, as gold plated jewelry has 100 times less gold content than gold filled jewelry, and therefore significantly less value, durability and luster.
Guidelines for optimal jewelry care:
1. USE CAREFULLY
As with our silver jewelry, we want jewelry with gold details to be with you everywhere, but maybe not always. To avoid possible scratches, we recommend that you remove your jewelry during more demanding activities that risk damaging jewelry, such as strength training and hobby activities.
2. PROPER STORAGE
To properly care for your jewelry, we recommend that you always store it safely in a jewelry box, bag, box, or similar. It protects the jewelry from external factors that can scratch/damage it and at the same time reduces the likelihood that you will accidentally lose any of your jewelry.