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The mythıcal appeal of yellow gold jewellery

“I create tiny shrines to beauty and texture, in sumptuous golden forms. Somehow, this is my most authentic language, I can say things in gold that I find no words for.” – Loren Lewis.

The enticing appeal of yellow gold captivates us as strongly as it did our ancestors.  In ancient times, this gleaming earth-born metal was thought to possess mystical powers, with ancient cultures believing it to emit the energy-giving power of the sun.  Loren Lewis Cole views her gold designs as tiny talismans – made of a natural protective material giving strength to the wearer.

Gold was one of the first metals discovered by humans and its use in jewellery dates back to the earliest civilisations. Gold remains one of the most popular metals in jewellery due to its timeless appearance and unmistakeable lustre. But in addition to its beauty, gold has long been revered for its many other properties. Cleopatra used gold as an anti-aging beauty treatment, and it must have worked – the Roman historian Cassius Dio describing her as “a woman of surpassing beauty”. Gold was a common skin treatment during the Roman era where gold salve was used to treat skin infections. Today, many dermatologists believe that gold has incredible skin-healing powers.

“I have been wearing, creating and studying jewellery and adornment since my early teens. Combining my love for the talismans of peoples and cultures gone by, and a personal appreciation of expressionism, I create textural work in precious metals, diamonds, rubies and sapphires. My work is artful, sensual and deeply personal. I seek to continue a lineage of humanities primitive artistic roots, as well as create something contemporary and unseen.”

Many believe gold retains its connection with the earth in which it was created, and that this connection with our planet can reconnect wearers with the earth’s energy – through soothing vibrations that relax your blood vessels and boost oxygen distribution to the cells. Some properties of gold assist in healing the nervous as well as the endocrine system. Studies in this area have shown patients heal more quickly when wearing gold jewellery. As research continues to identify the specific properties in gold that provide such healing powers, many people continue using gold jewellery to treat problems with their nervous health.  So, adorn yourself in gold. Not only does it look beautiful, but it also might have healing and soothing properties.

” I’ve always felt naked without my jewellery. The intimacy of these tiny glistening stories of intrigue, against my skin all the time, somehow has always made me feel most myself. I love to see how others adorn themselves, both ethnographically and within contemporary culture.”

A traveller at heart, I have spent time swapping skills with and learning from craftspeople wherever I have travelled. Craft is one of our shared languages. I’ve been fortunate enough to work metal alongside Tibetan, Turkish and Indian goldsmiths. I believe deeply in the cultural value of craft and the person to person transmission of these skills. Metalsmithing is an ancient and profound craft, one that connects me to ancestors I’ve never met.  We all carry personal shrines imbued with legend and magic. Minarets of meaning that symbolise what we treasure, what’s sacred in our worlds.

Origins Collection

Our elemental ground. Free from words; the Self is wild, rugged and vivid; distressingly beautiful. The poetry of the world is always talking to us. This collection enshrines the sensual influences of the Elements in amulet form. Wearable reminders of our tangible connectedness to where we are.  A gesture of never-ending relationship with mineral, tides, depths, luminosity, currents and light. In exploring these amulets, you discover the intrinsic opera of femininity in all of them, unique to you as the wearer. Their chaotic precision humbling, their unknown vector keeping us at the precipice of fragility. This interplay of danger and generosity is the moving canvas where our entire lives are expressed, the theatrics of our desires, the bedrocks of our biographies. This collection of amulets was designed to remind the wearer of the primordial generosity of their own being.

Galactic Medallions

Galactic Medallions is a capsule collection of Fair-Trade yellow gold amulets inspired by maps and Mandalas. Mirroring the constellations of energy that radiate from us, influencing our surroundings and inner landscapes. The ordered Chaos of the Cosmos. Sensual meditations; organic bridges between matter and metaphysics. A shrine is a tribute to an idol, force or spirit. A place where we make sense of the influences that roam that universe. Seeing the shrine reminds us of the spirit it was created for. Carrying these shrines with us, we can use them to traverse matter and magic, we remember we’re the source of our own vision.