Is your handcrafted unique jewelry really distinctive?

Fill with meaning your handcrafted unique jewelry...

... and give your clients a hint of their own core values.

Distinctiveness in jewelry is solely given by the owner and wearer in relation to his/her emotional attachment to it.

Jewelry is one of the most symbolical crafts.

It can symbolize a relationship, a commitment, an oath, a commemorative event or any other emotionally charged aspect in life.

Throughout humanity, handcrafted unique jewelry has reflected the multitude of concepts inherent in human psyche and social culture.

We all know very well how jewelry has been used as amulets and symbols for spiritual and physical protection and other beliefs.

Jewelry expresses the quest of the human spirit toward transcendence.

We talked in another section about the importance of giving intention and purpose to your jewelry as a path to design handcrafted unique jewelry.

This uniqueness is given by the expression of your personal message, and symbols can give you a hand in achieving this.

People have a broad range of motives that guides their desire to own and wear jewelry.

These motivations are often ruled by ideas that are in turn adopted as the result of a person’s exposure to the opinions and values of friends, family, co-workers and broader social and cultural context.

Additionally, today a person is subject to mass media communication which pours ever increasing visual and symbolic messages about lifestyle and consumption.

From a symbolic image to a symbolic sign

Both have in common underlying ideas, beliefs, values and convictions associated to a particular symbol. This implicit meaning or inherent purpose is what a symbol is all about.

A symbolic image very well known in the west is Christ’s crucifixion.

This is not seen as a mere anecdotic illustration but is valued as a symbol of Christian faith or reverential cult. As a contrast, in the old days you could find in many rural homes two wooden sticks tied together in a cross shape, representing exactly the same symbol. In this case, the image has been cut down to a symbolic sign.

The key is being consistent with your own core values and beliefs.

Handcrafted unique jewelry is an eloquent way of sharing your personal ethics.

Avoid a frequent confusion about the concept of “symbol”

Symbols have these characteristics: they are always deeply embedded with meaning, have a universal appeal and / or are identified by a large social body, and clearly reflect a coherent message.

Symbols are also frequently confused with abstractions. Notions of time, pain, suffering, love and fire, to mention a few, may be represented with many visual elements that are not exactly symbols.

As Frutiger (1997) mentions, the classic crossed bones, for example, can be associated to pirate heraldry (image), as a sign for a toxic liquid, or as a symbol of inclination towards risky behavior in the leather jacket of a motorcyclist.

When designing your handcrafted unique jewelry using symbols, be consistent with the message and thoughts you want to express by means of symbols.

And think of the cultural context where your jewelry may be sold. Check for religious and cultural differences, and act accordingly. Respect is vital.

Use symbols when they serve your design intent best, use them.

Other design ideas and concepts can contain symbolic information.

Organic designs, for example, may subtly enclose a symbolic nature because fruits, animals, vegetables and flowers have long been used as symbols in humankind. Pre-columbian design is particularly full of animal and vegetable symbols, evidence of their mystical life.

Egyptians were masters at using symbols in nearly all of their arts.

Hieroglyphs, like the one on the right, had a hidden message by way of using the symbolic content given to each image.

The beauty of each and every one of the symbols is uncontested.

Go from Handcrafted Unique Jewelry back to Design Ideas

References used in this section: Untracht (1985); Frutiger (1997); Olver (2003)