Jewellery for centuries has represent so many different things and can hold so much within it. Jewellery has and continues to be used to represent love, its used to mark a celebration, its been passed on for generations, its been given as gifts, it can represent thanks. The list goes on.
Jewellery used to be handed down, it use to be modified by the next generation or owner. It was something special, it held meaning. It may have had been handled by generations of the same family or multiple families, its was worth something due to its memories but also its precious material.
The hands that use to handle your jewellery belonged to the goldsmith that made the item, the new owner and their family members.
How many hands have handled the jewellery that you purchase from a high street fast fashion brand before you get to wear it? And will your future generations get to wear it and get to cherish it and the memories connected to it? Will it stand the test of time in a positive way?
I sat this morning and looked at my personal jewellery collection. You may think that being a jewellery I would own loads, that I would perhaps own one of all the collections I've made over the years. And the honest answer is, I wear most of the jewellery I own daily. I truly have very little jewellery. I think jewellery should be something that you can wear every day and yet it still feels special.
Aside from my daily sprinkle of jewellery I'm very lucky to own two rings and a pendant from my Great Grandmother, a ring of my grand mothers that a friend made for her, a charm bracelet that my granddad grave my grand mother which has charm from his travel with the navy, a bracelet a friend made me when we finished school, a necklace and ring I was gifted by a lovely old employer and a silver ring my old neighbour gave me which was hers as a teenager and she passed on to me. And yes I do own a pair of fast fashion earrings I purchased a long time ago. I do wear them, because if I bin them (no no no!) they become part of the bigger problem, they end up in land fill. They are resin animal print hoops which you may have spotted me wearing. I won't purchase anything new from fast jewellery, that's my promise. This is something key and touched upon in a number of fast fashion books. Don't bin your fast fashion items to replace with sustainable ones. Instead wear and repair where possible and when you need to buy new/replacements make a better informed purchase.
I'm trying to work out who has made the fast jewellery, how its been handled, how much is being made and what impact it is having. And i'm asking the question, will we be leaving jewellery to future generations as family heirlooms or will we be leaving landfills full of damaged, un-recyclable, unusable fast fashion jewellery?
I'm trying to start a conversation and invite you to join in. I want to know what jewellery means to you, where and why you purchase, why you make (if a jeweller) and how you see things going.
I'd love to know what you think? Leave a comment or head on over to my Instagram give me a little follow, and find out more and join in on the conversation.
Rx
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