For thousands of years, the arts have given us direct access to our inner lives, offering us glimpses not only of what we think about but also how we think. No culture in human history has been without its own jewelry, music, visual art and storytelling.

Jewelry is an art form of the ages, beautifully combining the beauty of earth’s materials with human capability. Of the few things, visually used to identify your personality, making you more than your physical form, jewelry helps in expressing one’s true self.

Jewelry exhibits the combining of extraordinary craftsmanship and the technological development of the civilization. It also provides with a glimpse into a society’s interpersonal and religious customs. Gold jewelry is a large part of Filipino culture. During the Spanish colonization, jewelry was an important symbol of wealth and power in the Philippines and early Filipinos developed sophisticated metallurgy and engraving techniques that lasted centuries. Jewelry today has become very expressive, reflecting your personal attitudes, or artistic skill. The detailed work required in jewelry making, speaks for the dedication, long-term vision and inner tranquility of the jeweller.

Making delicate works of art to adorn the human form with, truly takes great inspiration and patience. Often seen as just beautiful, jewelry has the ability to speak from afar, of the nature of the body adorning it. Our soul’s rebellion, shown with tongue or belly piercings, or our pious nature, reflected in rosary beads and golden crosses, this versatile nature of jewelry is what makes it a natural part of being human, there is something for everyone.

Mother Nature has always been man’s greatest source of inspiration, jewelry is no exception. The realisation of one’s sensations, while looking at the simplicity of a thorny berry bush and fabricating that feeling into a wearable work of art, is the closest one could come to be in unison with nature & peace.

So, the next time you glimpse at your gold bracelet or dangly earrings, take a moment to think about what inspired it, how it was made, or the of kind of history might be behind the work of art that graces your body.

Sophisticated and dramatic bracelet consisting of sliced diamonds set in 18 karat gold on a blackened silver thorny net dome. For more jewelry inspired by nature; visit www.neetagupta.ca