Sometimes making jewellery transcends the sum of its parts, and gives us as much emotional connection to a piece, as it does to our customers.
In creating this special piece, I was fortunate to be part of a special transformation involving these operculum shells.
Their journey to becoming a personal piece of jewellery began in World War 2, where our clients father had collected the shells and kept them in an old tobacco tin.
We were commissioned to design a simple necklace for our client that would resonate with a ring they had asked us to repair late last year, and as they had no specific due date, it was placed in the “non urgent” box and the “Christmas jobs” became the focus up until the last few days before Christmas 2019 arrived.
But fate changed those plans. We unfortunately weren’t able to come back to the workshop, so we missed the last 4 work days of 2019, and were unable to finish the job on time…
The Christmas holidays came and went. A cancelled family holiday to Kangaroo Island due to bushfires left me spending most of the break watching the CFS website for changing fire conditions….. but a return to work was imminent, and something I was looking forward to….
…… Upon returning to work in January, I was met with the sad news that our client for this special piece, had lost her home and all her contents. She was very grateful that her pieces hadn’t been finished and collected in December, or they most likely would’ve been destroyed in the fire too!
Hence the new significance of this special piece that was created by a series of unfortunate events.
It can be an emotional ride with some pieces of jewellery, and what they can signify…..
and when the sentimental value is greater than the monetary value, I know I’ve achieved a good result!
Ben.
Prue says
lovely story and lovely jewelry well done Ben .
Shannon Cornish says
Thank you Prue – it was a pretty unique story and we felt it should be shared, glad you enjoyed it.