Exotic India has always been a place I planned to visit ‘sometime in the future’, and I hope to do so soon. Aside from a transit one-day visit in India during my travels from Africa to Sri Lanka, India remains a mystery. The strong aesthetic of the jewels of an Indian bride brought me to this post.

The Indian bridal wear is a feast of colour, adorned with jewels from head to toe in large, luxurious and intricate designs in gold and precious stones.

I decided to look a bit closer to the different parts of the jewellery worn during the ceremony, to (more…)

After a manic couple of weeks, I found a bit of time to do what I love. I spent some of that time browsing through Instagram posts and feasted on many images of gems and jewelry and these were the first to wow me!

The rings are by @taffinjewelry – the top left is a ceramic ring with purple spinel and sapphires. (more…)

This Aquamarine solitaire in a ‘whisper’ of a setting makes a loud noise on my finger! Not only in terms of the sparkle of colour but also in the story it carries. It marked my first fascination with gems.

It was years ago that the energy of all those gemstones gripped my attention for the first time. It all started with Maj Britt Baker, a Swedish Gemmologist living in Sri (more…)

Doesn’t the Metamorphosis film just make you smile?

My two favourite stories in the film are ‘The Secret Garden’ and ‘Through the Keyhole’.

Its energy resonates with how I feel about jewellery – light hearted and fun and playful. Yes you may have an exquisitely crafted jewel, beauties in silver or an inherited piece or even highly valued costume pieces – whatever the case, they’re meant to be taken out into the world and worn with ease, enjoyed and made part of your expression, energy and hopefully… some ‘fun’ of the day!

The 7 minute film shows Solange Azagury – Partridge’s Metamorphosis Collection. Exquisite creations of fun, they’re wearable pieces that captivate with its playfulness, its fantasy. I love its transformable qualities!

When I was watching this, one of her inspirations came to mind. The ‘cloud’ and her thoughts (more…)

Here we are, already in February!

As I looked around at beautiful pieces set in Amethyst, the gemstone of the month, I found this particular jewel inspiring: Bird Motif, necklace from Cartier ~ in pink gold, lapis lazuli, amethyst, sapphire, and diamonds.

…Of a colourful bird that ‘opens the door of its golden cage to take flight into the open skies’.

When I gaze at this jewel, I am reminded of the various cages many of us find ourselves in. We, like birds are born and (more…)

Garnet is the gemstone of January.

To honour the Garnet, I picked a jewel for this post, which is a favourite from one of my recent books ‘Jewels by JAR’. Joel Arthur Rosenthal is the creator of jewels that are works of art, each in unusual combinations of gemstones and metal. It really has been a feast for my eyes.

This particular jewel is ~Mughal Flower Bracelet, 1987. There are garnets, rubies, sapphires, amethysts in titanium, silver and gold. Exquisite.

More images of some of his pieces can be seen here: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Garnet is a name that covers a group of minerals that are related in composition and with a similar crystal structure.They (more…)

What do you think of this precious, whimsical beauty?

The moment my eyes fell on these images, I fell so in love with the ring. Just wishing and willing to be in a place (in life) where I can buy it and make it my own and carry with me a bit of fantasy everywhere I go…

It so happens that my daughter, months ago, had her nose buried in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (more…)