The Sunday Times: Issue #11

Greetings from North Carolina! I am writing to you this week from the kitchen table of my parents' house (and my childhood home). I'm here to do one final clean-out of my childhood bedroom before they pack up to move.

While cleaning out my closet I found my oldest jewelry collections from my youngest self. One collection was tied up in a drawstring bag (the style that inspired the PS jewelry pouches) and the other was in a Roxy watch box. Each was filled with tiny charms, broken chains, single earrings, and random rocks and crystals. The haphazard collection of a small girl collecting anything that she thought was cool and then not giving the slightest effort to keep it all together. I counted seven lone earrings and not a single pair.

Seeing these pieces brought back a lot of memories and had me thinking a lot about why I bought what I did when I was that young. Then I started thinking about why we buy the jewelry we do, in general. So that's what we'll discuss in this week's issue!

So pour yourself a cup of tea and get comfy.

"A woman wears both jewelry and fragrance, and both recall happy moments of her life."

- Alain Boucheron

MY FIRST JEWELRY

WE ALL START SOMEWHERE

Seeing these tiny treasures brought back a lot of memories. I can remember where and how each one of them came into my life. A Claire's trip with my childhood best friend, something I spied in my mother's jewelry box and secretly stole, gifts from my parents upon their return from a trip, a purchase I made on one of our family trips, a gift from my grandmother, and so on.

Even though these were accumulated before I was even in adolescence, many of these serve the same purposes that the jewelry we purchase as adults serves: reminders of a fun trip, symbolism of a friendship, protection for travel. I started thinking about why we as adults buy the jewelry we do. What does it say about us? Are we looking to make a statement and be noticed? Are we looking to signal wealth or taste? Are we looking for protection and connection? Is it to fit in with a crowd, either online or IRL? Are we looking to just feel joy?

Looking at these pieces now, I can recognize some themes that are still present with my adult jewelry collection and the jewelry I make as a designer. The cancer crab charm I stole out of my mother's jewelry box showed my interest in astrology at a young age. The palm tree charm showed my love of the tropics (it has a flamingo on the other side). The seashell is reminiscent of the shell scallops I now carve into rings and earrings. The Saint Christopher medallions illustrate my belief in the protective power of saints and my love of the ocean and my futile attempts at surfing. But perhaps the most telling is the piece in that collection that came into my life first - the little heart locket.

LOCKETS ARE MAGICAL

BECAUSE THEY CAN STORE SECRETS

What can be more fun for a child than the idea that they can have something that no one else can know about unless they decide to show you? That they can carry around a picture or a small token that means something to them and is only known to them. This book by Elizabeth Koda-Callan was how the first piece of jewelry came into my life. It was a story about a locket and it came with an actual little locket. I can remember cutting out tiny heart-shaped pictures from magazines or family photos to put in it. Sometimes I picked small flowers and put them in there. This is something that has stayed with me after all these years as I learn how to make, and look forward to offering, lockets.

What makes lockets function is hinges. I've become obsessed with hinges and the functionality that they bring to jewelry. Looking at my small childhood jewelry collection shows me that I loved that kinetic function in jewelry then, too. Even the little spinning I Love You charm shows kinetic function and a secret only revealed when it moves.

Polly Pocket was one of my favorite things to collect and this little necklace was the very first one I ever got. I often cut out flowers from magazines to put in the big frame at the top. My current ring boxes are largely inspired by Polly Pockets.

This Nantucket basket is something I bought on one of our many trips to Massachusetts to visit my mother's family. It came with a tiny penny inside which I can't believe I managed to not lose.

This locket is one of my first tries with hinges and I can't wait to finalize the design so I can offer a double door locket to you in the future, so you can cut out pictures and pick flowers and build your own personal little altar to the people or things you love.

"The popular idea that a child forgets easily is not an accurate one. Many people go right through life in the grip of an idea which has been impressed on them in very tender years."

- Agatha Christie

CORE JEWELRY MEMORIES

WHAT ARE YOURS?

Some of my core jewelry memories involve these Klutz books from the 90's. They are definitely what got me into making jewelry at a young age. I asked my mom and my sister what their core (or first) jewelry memories were. My sister said a pendant that my dad, then in the Navy, sent to her from Panama (below left). My mom said the black onyx moon ring that she saw on her Aunt Aldea's finger (below right). Aunt Aldea eventually left it to my mom, who eventually gave it to me.

I also have some core jewelry memories from movies. I can remember being bewitched by the mood ring from the movie My Girl and later loving the wedding bands from Romeo + Juliet.

Do you have a core jewelry memory, either from real life or a movie? I'd love to know!

PASSING JEWELRY DOWN

GENERATIONAL JEWELRY

I read in Emily Hayward's book Obsessed that every buying decision comes down to death. If you ask yourself why you bought something, and then ask yourself "why" again, and again, eventually you'll come to the idea that "everything we do as humans, whether we know it or not, is ultimately motivated by knowledge of our own mortality." The example in the book is the motorized car. If you think of why someone with a horse might want a car instead, you'd probably reason that it's because a horse is too slow and a car is faster. But if you ask why that matters again, you might reason that getting there faster allows someone to spend more time with the people they love and give them more time to accomplish important things. If you ask why that matters again, you'll eventually come to the idea that life is short and you need to get more things done before you die.

That made sense with cars but I had a really hard time applying it to jewelry. How does the knowledge of our short life and eventual mortality affect our buying choices with jewelry? This week brought me a little clarity on that subject when I asked my family about their jewelry memories. Jewelry is one of the few things that can survive many, many generations. Gold is indestructible and holds its value, so when someone dies, it's very likely one of the things that descendants hope to inherit. Maybe not the crochet doilies, but definitely the jewelry.

If you have kids, do you think of them when you buy jewelry? Do you think of who will eventually inherit the pieces that you purchase today? Does that affect the kind of jewelry you buy, hoping that it'll survive and hold its value?

How does it feel to wear jewelry that belonged to one of your ancestors? Do you feel more connected to them in some way when you wear it?

Photo: Jenn Hall Sweatte

A photoshoot I did with Jenn Hall Sweatte a few years ago focused on this idea: the memory of a child seeing either their parent's or grandparent's jewelry for the first time and being told the story behind it. These become tangible stories that we can pass down through generations with the beautiful jewelry itself.

Huge thanks to the Pittman family for modeling for this special photoshoot and to Jenn for capturing it so perfectly.