Finally, I just decided enough was enough with the confusion over the image, and I designed a set of bangles. Why didn’t I do this sooner? They’re so fun and wearable, slightly oval, and in an interlocking set of three that rolls up and down irresistibly. Personally, I favor the combination of chocolate brown shakudo with sterling silver and 18K rose gold, but they are also available with 18K yellow gold for the traditionalists out there. There’s just something about the perfect set of bangles: not only do they look amazing with everything, but they’re an invitation to play with your jewelry, clinking pleasingly as they slide against each other. So fun.

The item of warm-weather clothing I had planned on wearing the most this summer was a dress from Kate Organic, a line that I came across last fall at the Designers & Agents show. I fell in love with the easy glamour and Green design and wanted one of everything. The impeccably-cut Maxi Pocket Dress in bamboo has a glorious drape that flatters the figure like a dream, and best of all it looks amazing with okomido jewelry. Wearing it became almost a guilty pleasure. So effortless to throw on and so unbelievably comfortable, and yet strangers stopped me on the street with compliments.

Fabulous, right? I’m feeling pretty bitter about storing away this light-as-a-cloud creation with the ability to transform the wearer into a Hollywood screen goddess. Summer, how could you betray me this way?

photo courtesy of Kate Organic

I’ve been working on a new necklace in honor of those oft-unsung heroes, and I thought you might enjoy hearing about the back-story for my design-in-progress.

When I was pregnant with my youngest son three years ago, I was on bed-rest for many weeks to prevent preterm labor, and to say that I was eager for my baby to arrive was an understatement.  But my friends and family rallied around me in ways I could only have imagined, and the outpouring of love and support was staggering.  They continually outdid one another with gifts of delicious food, creative distraction and entertainment, and thoughtful items intended to increase my comfort or just make me smile.

One such gift from my friend Hillary stands out in its sweetness.  It was a squat little figure rendered whimsically in a rather lumpish, oval shape, with a small circular niche carved out of the middle.  A gauzy organza ribbon was tied around it to secure in this cavity a small sphere, on which you could just make out a tiny pair of eyes and chubby face: a little ball of baby bouncing around in its pregnant mother’s belly. 

I love the idea of making concrete that fervent hope and prayer of an expectant mother:  “When the timing is right, untie the ribbon and let the little guy out,” said Hillary.  So I did.

What exactly does this have to do with a necklace, you ask?  The new design has an organic-shaped oval pendant with a small chocolate brown seed suspended from the inside, with the option of removing the seed at the appropriate time.  I think it would also be fun to have something to replace it with, a “bloom” of some kind, but I haven’t yet decided what.  A little flower bud in gold?  A small gemstone, perhaps related to birth month?

Having recently gone through that miraculous event again myself, I know how lovely and meaningful it is to wear a piece of jewelry to commemorate the remarkable blessing of life. You’ll be the first to know when I’ve gotten all the details figured out about this one!

No, it’s not a freak storm–it’s just an ordinary spring afternoon in the orchards surrounding my house. It’s apple blossom season in the Gravenstein orchards, and all it takes is a little breeze to make it snow pearly-white petals. Heaven.

It’s so pretty, my kids can’t help but break into song:

I looked out the window and what did I see? Popcorn popping on the apple tree.
Spring has brought me such a nice surprise! Popcorn popping right before my eyes.
I can take a handful and make a treat. A popcorn ball that smells so sweet.
It wasn’t really so, but it seemed to be: Popcorn popping on the apple tree.

This is the kind of idyllic day that makes me say this is without a doubt my favorite season. The hills are covered with corduroy rows of grapevines just leafing out, the wisteria and lilacs are lush with fragrant purple blossoms, and the bees are nearly drunk with nectar. (But just wait until fall comes around and the vineyards are all afire with autumnal color: I’ll rhapsodize about my “favorite season” all over again!)

Walking among the apple trees, I decided I had to try to capture this lovely phenomenon in jewelry to enjoy all year long. Scattered blossoms in pale silver on a fine chain of gold, or a surprising study in contrast with chocolaty shakudo petals instead:

petals necklace in sterling and 14K

petals necklace and earrings in shakudo and 14K

My tribute to spring in this beautiful place I’m lucky enough to call home.

She may be tiny, but she has great taste in jewelry.

I’m always impressed when designers from other fields find innovative ways of doing this as well. My latest design crush in this vein is an apparel line called Mr. Larkin, based in San Francisco, utilizing fabric made of, of all things, milk. Milk fiber is made from casein, the same protein that is used to make cheese. The difference between your brie and your bustier is that the powdered casein in milk fiber has been spun into filaments and woven into an odor-less, breathable fabric that nourishes the skin and has a marvelous silky hand-feel. Doesn’t that sound heavenly?

However, as with many materials newly-launched (or, in this case, re-launched, since the Italians were using this luscious fabric as early as the 1930’s) on the Green Scene, some controversy has surrounded the manufacturing process. There are those who shun any product related to the dairy industry altogether, while others note that the lack of harsh chemicals required to introduce color into the fabric makes it environmentally-friendly. To my mind, the jury is still out regarding the “eco” label on this product, but there’s no doubt that this dress would look fabulous with some okomido bling:

photo courtesy of Mr. Larkin

Really, is there anything that chocolate can’t do? Among the many incredible benefits, chocolate has been found to:

Function as currency (ancient Aztecs used cacao beans as money)
Give you an energy boost (ingredients theobromine and caffeine are mild stimulants)
Lift your mood ( the “love chemical” phenethylamine is a natural mood enhancer)
Help maintain healthy cholesterol levels (with “good-for-you” fats and flavonoids, that made-up sounding ingredient that must be great because its name is just too absurd to be accepted otherwise!)
Improve cardiac function (contains powerful anti-oxidants)

I’m such a fan of the endorphin-producing stuff that I even found inspiration in the chocolate bean pod (Theobroma cacao) to design jewelry. The scale of the actual pod is surprisingly large, at 6-12 inches long, but I was struck by the almost floral shape created by the cross-section. My earrings and pendant are obviously much smaller, but the final effect makes quite a statement in 18 karat gold and velvety brown shakudo accented by vintage diamonds. The open spaces in the design are where dozens of cacao beans would be tucked away, waiting to be harvested and ground into pure heaven with a touch of sugar and cream.

I’ve decided that chocolate jewelry provides much the same pleasure in the wearing as my favorite truffles do, and there’s none of that tiresome guilt to deal with. Don’t think my husband is off the hook when it comes to supplying me with some of these little anniversary indulgences, though…

Adorably delectable mice from chocolatier L.A. Burdick

Consider for a moment when metal is recycled.  Mingling companionably are bits of gold from a thousand unknown sources–ranging from the romantic, like the Duchess of Cumberland’s opera necklace; to the sentimental, like Betty Jane Smythe’s wedding band; and even to the humble, as in dental work from Aunt Etta’s gold crowns.  A single pair of okomido earrings is made from all these diverse sources and more, often even incorporating vintage gemstones in their original mountings.  And, I love the continuity of adding to those colorful life stories with new memories whenever okomido jewelry is worn.

My own interest in the story-telling potential of jewelry began a little over a decade ago when I worked at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, which has a fabulous collection of jewelry from all over the world.  I became fascinated in particular with the history of charm bracelets.  During their heyday in the U.S., between the 1940s and 1960s, charms were everywhere, reflecting individual life events, interests, tastes and wishes.  The mechanical ones with intricate moving parts were often clever or comical: a spinning globe signifying “You mean the world to me”, or a miniature pair of eyeglasses in its case inscribed “Love is Blind”.  Most often, women and girls would collect charms to commemorate what was meaningful to them: marriage, births, anniversaries, graduations.  In that way, the role of charms was not so different from the role of jewelry today.

I co-wrote an article for Ornament magazine about charm bracelets, and in studying them, the thing I found most striking was the way in which the charms collected on a single bracelet could provide such an extraordinary and potent encapsulation of a life history.  They became almost like portable, wearable autobiographies.  And, of course, the bracelets were intended to be passed from mother to daughter, from one generation to the next.  However, the tastes and styles of that earlier generation are so altered from those of today that interest in wearing these charms has waned, even when they remain meaningful to their inheritors.

I have collected vintage and antique jewelry ever since I was a little girl, but I have never collected charms myself.  Much as I adore the concept behind using jewelry to commemorate events, celebrate achievements, and signify the love shared between two people, the charms of those earlier generations seem just a tad too literal in their sentimentality to be equally significant today.  Our interpretation of the idea behind the charm bracelet craze may have changed somewhat, but I like to think we can carry on that lovely tradition in a new (and socially responsible) way.

Because jewelry is not only a statement of style–it is a powerful way to make a treasure of your past that you can share with others and pass on one day to the ones you love most.