#308: Seeds sprouting
Jewellery for grief
It’s been a long time since I have had this feeling.
When we lost Teddy in October ‘25. A friend made me a pendant necklace with a green stone in it to remind me of the baby we lost.
I’ve worn it almost every day since.
I’m now making more of them for people who want to stay connected to their loved ones and move forward through their grief.
At the time I was searching for an item that could somehow represent and symbolise my grief. It’s not that I necessarily wanted to immortalise Teddy. My experience of grief was that I wanted to mourn deeply, to move through and to let go. Whilst I knew the scar would never leave the tree, I wanted to grow around it.
I wanted to remember Teddy as a star in the sky and just as importantly for me, I wanted to stay connected to what I’d vowed to myself through that journey. The lessons learned and the line in the sand that this loss created in my life. There was me before and me after. I always want to be reminded of that.
Googling “Jewellery for Grief” - I couldn’t find anything I wanted. There wasn’t anything elegant or subtle. None of it felt “me” nor did any of it chime with my experience of loss. Nothing connected to me.
Then Marni made me this.
This necklace keeps Teddy’s memory close to me, I stay connected to that time in my life and have a visual reminder and symbol for everything I learned along the way.
For me this lesson was about gratitude. Losing Teddy made me reconnect to all that I had around me, before I was always looking forwards, always worried about what I didn’t have. Losing Teddy grounded me to rock bottom, took me deeply to the present and made me realise all the love I already have, that I have everything I need. That’s the lesson of my grief. Every time I touch this pendant, I remember that.
One day I’ll lose someone else close to me and when I do, I’ll add another stone to the pendant. Another mark, another star in the sky. It’s a piece of jewellery that will grow with me.
Marking moments of grief, loss and endings.
This necklace has literally been under my nose and when I came back from a restful month in France, I started wearing it every day again. I posted about it online. 10 people asked me for one. I’ve had 4 more made and sold 3 of them. All handmade to order with different stones for different memories.
A seed that I didn’t know I’d planted has sprouted and now I’m nurturing it. Giving it a little bit of water. Some air.
For the first time in a while I’m excited about something “business” related. How an object like this can create a meaningful impact for someone. How it can literally be touching. And I can see something. I can see a vision. Different pieces, different collections all for different chapters and moments in our lives.
The grief collection.
The parent collection.
The sold a business collection.
The divorce collection.
Jewellery for chapters, pieces that help you cross thresholds.
I need to get something made for becoming a dad. I want a dad necklace, or a dad ring. I’m thinking a gold pendant with a diamond in it. Why don’t men ever buy diamonds?
And that feeling is here. I daren’t speak to it too loudly because it’s so fragile, I don’t want to blow it away. Any founder knows this feeling. When you create something and someone values it for the first time. When an idea becomes real before your eyes. It’s real life magic. A person connecting to you and you to them over the internet, exchanging their hard earned money for something you brought to life. It’s special. It’s the best kind of dopamine hit. Much more so when it matters like this.
The first 4 necklaces are in production. The next steps are to create a brand name, website and to see if more people might connect with this product and idea.
That’s the next step. Let’s see if this seed might sprout a little higher.
Cheers,
James x
