For me, nothing holds as much sentimental value as jewellery. People sometimes assume that's simply because I'm a jewellery designer. The truth is, I felt that long before I ever made my first ring.
I've often tried to understand why jewellery feels different from any other object we own. We treasure photographs, letters and keepsakes, but jewellery has a unique way of becoming part of us. It isn't tucked away in a drawer or looked at occasionally. It lives with us. We wear it through the ordinary moments as much as the extraordinary ones, and it collects memories along the way.
One of the pieces I wear most often is a ruby ring my mum gave me years ago. It's not something I think about every morning when I put it on. It's simply become part of me. Yet every now and then, I'll catch a glimpse of that deep red ruby and be reminded of her. A simple ring somehow carries years of memories, conversations and shared moments that have nothing to do with the gemstone itself.
Years later, when my daughter Yanna was born, I discovered that ruby is her birthstone too. I loved that coincidence. Without planning it, the same gemstone had become woven into another chapter of my family's story. It's one of the reasons I have such affection for rubies, but it also reminds me that jewellery is rarely important because of what it is. It's important because of what it comes to represent.
When I look through old family photographs, I often find myself wondering about the jewellery people were wearing. Wedding rings exchanged decades ago. Pendants worn every day. Brooches saved for special occasions. Objects that witnessed entire lives. They would have seen celebrations, ordinary mornings, children growing up, difficult times and moments that nobody thought to photograph.
Perhaps that's why jewellery has always fascinated me. It begins as gold, platinum and gemstones, but over time it becomes something far more personal. The pieces we treasure are rarely defined by their materials or even by their design. They become meaningful because they are woven into our own stories.
As jewellers, we can only create the beginning. The rest is written by the people who wear them.
