Peas in a Pod

The portrayal of the flower is a very common theme in jewelry. We all appreciate beautiful subjects, but what about its preliminary form? The "mother" of a flower? What comes before the flower...... The relationship of mother and child, creator and its creation, I am drawn by this idea.

Obviously most plants bud from seeds, so I start by doing some research on seeds and buds. After studying the natural form of plants such as snow peas, peanuts, lentils, edamame, and various other plants, I took a minimalist approach, did some sketches and come up with a oval-marquise, peapod shape that I like. Not intending to go for an exact duplicate of a particular seed, I like my shape because I think it represent a seed pretty well.

I want a cracked open seed revealing whats inside, like what you commonly see with a peanut or lentils. This create more interest and shows the relationship between the shell and whats inside. Being a jeweler I naturally want to incorporate some gemstones into the design.

The shape of a round bead resembles a bean and is my obvious choice. Now the challenge is to securely fasten the beads / “beans” without any use of claw or prong. Any additional component will take away the minimalistic beauty. I just want the shell and its beans, nothing more. After some thoughts the solution I come up with is inspired by a kebab, skewering the gemstones with a pin, and then solder fastened to the shell.

Big advantage with this technique is the gemstone bead having a great exposure revealing all of it’s natural beauty. At the same time is also well protected by the golden shell.

Because of this peas in a pod design, this collection is especially meaningful for mothers or mothers to be. The relationship between the shell and its beans is like mother and child: mother as the protector and creator; and while the child is being protected, is the most precious gem for the mother. 

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#mother to be necklace

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#peapod