29 Jun An 18 Karat Legacy
The Bianchi Family – my client Bess is the infant in her grandmother’s arms.
Decades ago, an infant American girl received an 18-karat gold bracelet from her grandmother, from Argentina.
As she grew, she became aware of the bracelet, held by her mother in its special keeping place. As it was too large for her wrist, she was allowed to visit it, but not allowed to wear it.
Then, at age 8, she was allowed to wear it because wouldn’t fall off. And, she did. In fact, she wore it all the time. by age 12 she was wearing it all the time. She never took it off, until….
More than three decades later (almost four decades later), she was in my studio asking me to CUT the bracelet from her wrist. She had been wearing it since age 12, without removing it at all. In fact, she couldn’t remove it even if she wanted to.
This means that this bracelet she was asking me to cut from her wrist had been with her through every milestone of her teen and adult life up to that point.
Her graduation.
Her first kiss.
Her first job.
Her wedding.
The day her grandmother died.
The day her daughter left for college.
Bess and Michaella, on the day they picked up Michaella’s new ring, made from her mom’s bracelet.
And now, the 21st birthday of her daughter, her eldest child.
It was upon this occasion that she decided to pass the legacy of love on to her daughter. She wanted to transform the bracelet into something that would carry her daughter through the decades of her life to come, as it had done for her since 1978.
Her daughter is a woman of the future. She is vibrant. Smart. And on a path toward things that her Argentine great-grandmother could only dream about. Bess noted that her heritage is important to Michaella, and the ring we would create is filled with narrative to honor that.
So, the bracelet would be transformed into a new piece that would honor that legacy while still launching young Michaella into her very own bright future.
metalsmthing note: And, luckily, 18-karat gold is highly versatile. It doesn’t mind being melted down, forged and transformed. 🙂
After cutting the bracelet from Bess’s arm, I melted it down, rolled and forged it into various forms, and created a hollow form ring with an Argentine sun, a diamond centerpiece, and four kinetic elements to represent for Michaella the four generations of women before her who embodied grace and leadership in their respective avocations.
The result is a bespoke piece that exists only for Michaella, with love from her mom and all the others.
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