The Yin Yang of Today
I am often asked where I get my ideas for jewelry design. Inspiration comes to me in so many different places. I find inspiration in my travels, through sculpture, from architecture, from macro photography and from studying jewelry from the past. With all this said, recently I felt the need to create something that had meaning for people, not just a decorative piece of jewelry to throw on. Nothing was coming to me. I wanted this time to create something that would bring hope, joy and good luck at a time when it is so much needed.
Finally a powerful feeling of inspiration came to me one day while I was cleaning out an old drawer and I rediscovered this yin yang bracelet (shown below). I found this bracelet at a flea market almost 30 years ago and wore it 24/7 while going through one of the most difficult and challenging times of my life. A point in my history that is still so hard to talk about. We were trying to become pregnant and it was not happening for us. As anyone who has gone through infertility knows every month is filled with hope and disappointment. After many years of doctors, procedures and a miscarriage, my joy did come to me in a baby boy and 22 months later a baby girl. Who both to this day are my greatest accomplishments. I wore this bracelet throughout my trials and tribulations. This was my good luck charm through the good and the bad. Through the hope and despair. Through the laughter and the tears. This was the bracelet that got me through the past and gave me hope for the future.
Not only did the yin yang bracelet bring me hope and luck, the message of the yin yang says everything. The yin yang has been described as seemingly opposite or contrary forces that may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. Wow, at this time with all the divisiveness in our country we are finding opposing forces are everywhere but forces greater than us can bring us together. There is connection in places, people and things that seem like polar opposites and when we look further, when we dig deeper and have hope and open our eyes we are able to see all the possibilities.
When I found the bracelet and realized the meaning was much more than I ever imagined I knew I had all the inspiration I needed and I wanted to reinvent the yin yang into a talisman sort of piece. My interpretation would be more modern, sculptural and very wearable. So here is my new and improved yin yang form that I have designed as a ring, necklace, bracelet, and my personal favorite, earrings. (shown below). I hope this good luck charm brings you or your loved one joy, inner peace, opens possibilities and makes dreams come true.
xoxo
Robin
PS What inspires you?