Pyrrha is a Vancouver-based jewelry store that has garnered an international following for its sustainable jewelry, including from celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Swift, Julia Roberts, Katie Holmes, and Lady Gaga. Founders Wade and Danielle Papin are aware of the environmental impact of the conventional jewelry industry and have thus made it their priority to run their company as sustainably as possible, inspiring their customers and other companies to do the same. Pyrrha is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 United Nations Agenda, attaining its status as a B Corp company (companies that use business as a force for good) and its memberships in the Responsible Jewellery Council and 1% For the Planet. Most recently, Pyrrha’s ecological aspirations have manifested in a mass timber design for its new production facility.
This modern production studio reflects Pyrrha’s sustainable forward thinking, while the fully restored 100-year-old heritage house that serves as an adjoining store and showroom juxtaposes traditional and contemporary design. The six-storey mass timber tower was constructed with five-ply cross-laminated timber (CLT) and—combined with the heritage building—offers 13,000 sq ft of space. Uniting panel spline connectors, CLT floors, and an elevator-stair core, the CLT structure provides a platform-frame construction of panel-on-panel design and acts as a natural carbon sink.
In addition to its low-carbon materials, the tower features sustainable technologies such as smart photochromic windows that tint in relation to the sun’s position, a geothermal pump that eliminates the need to heat and cool the building using fossil fuels, and a bird & insect wall in the courtyard that creates urban habitat and biodiversity. All these contribute towards its Zero Carbon Certification through the Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC).
Pyrrha has made its production facility as sustainable as the jewelry made within it, bringing mass timber into its suite of SDG-aligned sustainable practices and demonstrating the potential of wood products to assist in meeting global sustainability goals.
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