Taking Jewelry Personally
Why wearing it can be a long-term relationship.
Hi guys!
As you’ll soon see (got the shameless plug in super early this time), I don’t design with a collection mentality. It’s more of a collective mentality. Every piece I make is something that is made because I want to wear it. Because I think it will go great with something else I have already designed, or because it represents something that I want to remember. I figure that if I want to wear it then others will too.
And yes, there are so many absolutely incredible jewelry brands and jewelry pieces out there. The expression “everything has already been done,” does seem to indeed apply. If I’m being honest, it kinda takes the pressure off.
I believe that the secret to designing something that stands its own among the incredible crowd of jewelry is creating something that comes out of you organically and, almost, effortlessly. Because if it is true to you then it can’t help but be a little bit different from everything else… after all, aren’t we all different in our own right?
When one is drawn to a piece of jewelry there is an instant connection.
I see it all the time.
A piece that receives a lukewarm welcome from one person, completely gob smacks another and they just have to reach out and touch it, hold it, wear it. I have had people literally pull rings off my finger and wear them because they can’t help themselves (yes, they do give them back to me. Most of the time!).
If you think about it, it’s not surprising that we all have distinct reactions to certain pieces of jewelry.
Jewelry is something that we wear on our bodies and, unlike even clothing, we wear these pieces over and over again, day in day out (at least, if you’re like me you do). That’s why jewelry is so personal to us all.
We develop a relationship with our pieces that transcends a trend or an event that we bought to wear it to, like say an it-bag (is that a term that’s used anymore?) or the Pim Dress by Khaite (I mean, it’s SO stunning and you might be tempted to wear it for breakfast, work, lunch and dinner, but how many days in a row can you get away with wearing it before eliciting some very interesting looks from everyone you encounter?).
You can, however, wear the same ring or bangle stack day in day out for years and nobody will double take. In fact, it will become a part of your aesthetic persona or character and not wearing it will elicit the wondering and questioning glances! Not to mention the fact that you would probably not feel like yourself when stripped bare of your favorite talismans.
And feeling like yourself and being yourself, as already established, is the essence of what makes our relationship with jewelry the real deal.
