"One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter."
Henry David Thoreau
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
Albert Camus
“A piece of jewelry is often a piece of art. But it only becomes valuable when emotions are added to it.”
Anonymous
For most of us, the sea is in many cases associated to vacation. It is the place where we relax in summertime, where we reconnect with ourselves and those we love.
Summer jewelry is full of references to the sea: seashells, pearls, starfish or coral take us to beautiful beaches, islands surrounded by turquoise waters, swimming in crystalline seas.
However, these feelings usually fade shortly after we come back from vacation, and we leave our summer jewelry for the next year. It feels almost counterintuitive that something that makes us feel so good lasts so little every year.
So maybe it is time to change our mind, to turn to what makes us happy. To a state in which mind and feelings are united, showing how both are made for each other, belong together.
The sea is a metaphor of the soul, its depth and consciousness. Its attractiveness is timeless; its character goes throughout the seasons. It inspires art, poetry, dance, sculpture. The sea makes us transcend ourselves, our soul moves free like a wave, or is still and contemplates the beauty of its greatness.
The sea evokes the warmth of the sun in summertime and a fleck of fresh salty water on our skin. It is contemplation, and it represents adventure as well. Total calm or the strongest storm. It is presence, the real luxury in times of rush, living the present in depth. The fullness of life, the unattainable of knowledge.
Throughout human history, jewels have had a special connotation for many reasons. Its high material value is not the only one. They hold different meaning for what they represent for us. They are a reminder of relationships, moments of happiness, the attractiveness of design… all in the form of beauty.
Marine jewelry is a tribute of the oldest pieces of jewelry known. The oldest form of personal ornaments known are shell beads unearthed from site in Morocco dating back 80,000 years. They are interesting not only because they show how early humans worn and traded symbolic jewelry, but also because they were a cultural phenomenon transmitted through cultures. Francesco d'Errico, lead author and director of research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) explains the relevance of those findings: "The common element among such ornaments is that they transmit meaning to others. They convey an image of you that is not just your biological self" and "these shells help reveal the connections between cognition and culture."
Jewelry that evokes the sea brings us feelings and memories so strongly we directly associate it to that person, or episode in our life, how we felt. These are the jewels we wear throughout the year. Jewels that make us smile because we remember that person, pieces that make us happy because wearing them is like being at home, other that are reminders of the adventure just around the corner.