Early in the global lockdown, images went viral of the natural world retaking our usually busy places. Sheep in the city center. Cows standing in town squares. Birds perched on bridges, undisturbed by busy traffic below. People disappeared from view and our world stood still. For a moment, nature was allowed to hear itself and heal.
Like the Earth, many of us had the opportunity to slow down and heal for the first time in a very long time.
During this time, I heard from a client who had relocated to the beach to ride her quarantine. She was walking the sand every day, picking up shells, rocks, and sticks that spoke to her. The collection she amassed during quarantine is impressive. The categorization, beautiful. She put similar shells near each other, organized by color and scale. She created systems with the random collection of natural objects--a soothing counterbalance to the upheaval and uncertainty of the moment. She listened to her intuition and through this act, could meditate and heal.
I met this client years ago when designing a wedding ring for a marriage that has since dissolved. During Covid, she reached out asking to take the diamonds from this ring to design a necklace that she can wear and love on a daily basis.
We created two necklaces out of the diamonds in her wedding band. In the first necklace, the pear shaped diamonds are joined by rose cut gray and white diamonds in a variety of silhouettes sprinkled with round green tourmaline. The arrangement of stones is much like the collection of shells the wearer gathered during her Covid quarantine at the beach: Various sizes, shapes, and a soft palette of colors are gathered to create a necklace with an asymmetrical arrangement that uses negative space to its advantage.
The green of the tourmaline is repeated in the second necklace with the introduction of an irregularly shaped slice of bi-color tourmaline that is brilliant green edged in black. This tourmaline is bezel set with an asymmetrical arrangement of pear-shaped diamonds from the original ring sprinkled at the top of the pendant.
Both necklaces are on adjustable chains, allowing for comfortable wearing together, apart, and with a variety of neckline styles.
When choosing the supplemental stones for her necklaces, we played with a variety of gemstones. Ultimately, green tourmaline was selected for an accent color. I think tourmaline is such a perfect choice for her through Covid and into her next chapter. Tourmaline is thought to be a protecting stone and Green Tourmaline is credited with helping its wearers open their hearts. There is something fitting about pairing green tourmaline with the reused diamonds from the wedding band in these new layering necklaces. These are the ultimate up-cycle necklaces.
✨
Do you have a piece of jewelry you'd like to redesign? Send me an Email or shoot me a DM @originalevedesigns . Your jewelry should decorate you, not the top of your bureau!
Let's see what beauty we can create together!
Comments