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HOW DO WE HONOUR LOST JEWELLERY?

My friend and I decided to escape the Berlin heat by taking a visit to the lake. We had tinges of being a bit hungover from the night before, and all we could think about was that specific relief you get when you submerge yourself in a body of water. We floated in the lake and suddenly everything was okay. 

That was, until, my friend felt that her index finger was a lot lighter. As if a part of her body was missing. And when we realised her late grandmother’s gold signet ring had disappeared, it did feel like she lost a limb. 

Losing jewellery (or even worse, having it stolen) is an experience almost everyone can relate to. It hurts. It is physically painful. Jewellery is something so personal that often carries nostalgia reaching generations back, or it could even hold a more immediate meaning that comes with buying yourself something beautiful. Sometimes it just hurts to lose something pretty.  

HEIRLOOM JEWELLERY BY JEWELRY WISEImage from Jewelry Wise

Everyone has their own way of dealing with loss. Some mourn, some deny, some distract. The same processes are true for the loss of jewellery. We get customers coming in with photos of their lost/stolen item for our bespoke designer to make an exact replica– with not one difference. We have others who take the moment to repurpose the old design to create something entirely new. Others, ones we don’t see come through the doors, can’t even face what has happened so do not attempt to create or re-create. 

All processes are understandable, and equally important.

BESPOKE JEWELLERY BY BLACK BETTY


This conversation has come up a few times at the store. Completely organically, the ethos of Black Betty has been there as a subtle guide for the ideas shared. Thoughts around giving in to the flows of life, of knowing things will go wrong and things will not be perfect. Even, how you will lose and continue to lose things and people who hold meaning in your life. And it’s not as if knowing this will make it any less painful, or that life will suddenly be easy. These ideas are only there to guide you through accepting and facing the hurt.

My friend and I left the lake, and sat in silence for a while. I know she was not only thinking of the ring, but of her gran and all the moments she shared with her. That day, my friend and I decided to return to Berlin’s lake as much as possible and always take a moment to think of my friend’s gran, and her beautiful gold signet ring. It is now part of the lake forever. 

My friend is saving up to get the exact ring made up again, with not one difference. 

- Story by Juliette Petersen