I can’t even remember when this jewellery journey started. Was I five, or eleven? I have no idea.
I gave my Barbie dolls earrings by piercing their heads with sewing pins. The ball heads looked nice on their earlobes, and you couldn’t tell that the pins stuck out slightly on the back of their head. Not a sweet thing to do, but then again, they were just fashion dolls.
The next step - and this is when it started to become real - was to bend wire. This I do remember very clearly. I spent hours and hours with wire and pliers. Earrings and pendants. The joy!
Ever since, I wanted to “do more” with this joy. I kept learning. Now and then, a summer workshop or an evening class. Finally, the jeweller diploma, and the small home studio.
My inner compass always pointed towards jewellery making. Tiny shiny objects, tools in my hands, the sound of metal work, the possibilities. I'm on this jewellery making journey still, also when my hands are idle.
A few words for the journey
Whatever journey you're on, here are some wise words to hold on to, in case you feel lost.
"I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it."
Rosalia de Castro, writer and poet
"So much better to travel than to arrive."
Margaret Atwood, poet, novelist and literary critic
"I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there."
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, novelist
"I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within."
Lillian Smith, writer and social critic
“Have no fear of perfection; you'll never reach it.”
Marie Curie, chemist (and first woman to win a Nobel Prize)
“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I’m possible!'"
Audrey Hepburn
“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got. There is no yesterday, no tomorrow, it’s all the same day.”
Janis Joplin
Why do I tell you this?
Because I want to remind you that you don’t always need a map or a travel schedule. What you have inside, you have inside. You can trust it to come and go, as ebb and flow. Be aware of what your compass is telling you. Follow, when you can. And when you can’t, keep listening, take note and trust that your time will come.
It's also a way to explain what jewellery making is to me. It’s not about business, it’s not a career I’ve chosen or a plan that I have. I’ve never known exactly where this will go. It’s not even about sawblades, rings or earrings. It’s simply something that is with me, and always will be. It's joy.
Even this screen that you are looking at now, is part of my jewellery journey. I’m glad that you are here to make me company. I hope we’ll meet again. Let’s see where we will go, shall we?