This is such an important question to our founder Cecilia that she devoted the entire first episode of the Jewelry Podcast to answering it. If there was only going to be one episode, it would be about that! So how is it then - can you buy jewelery for yourself? Written by: Cecilia Kores
One thing I've noticed in my years with Mumbaistockholm is that there is a lot of stigma around real jewelry - how and when to wear it, who should buy it (for one) and the classic mindset that jewelry is primarily a gift of love from a man to a woman. Obsolete, right? I have been trying to get away from that for seven years! I want to encourage anyone who wants to buy jewelry for themselves.
But - what is real jewelry? It is simply jewelry that is made entirely of precious metals (usually gold, silver or platinum) and precious stones such as ruby, emerald, diamond, sapphire , tourmaline, aquamarine, morganite, pearl or opal. The list can be made long on precious stones! In the past, stones that were not diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald were called semi-precious stones, but that is no longer the case. Now, any stone that meets the requirements to be a gemstone (more on that later) is called a gemstone, but is instead graded and valued based on color, clarity, hardness, quality of cut, and so on.
When I was in my teens, I had a friend who used to go and buy herself jewelry every time she was extra happy and had something to celebrate (it used to be once a year). She used to go to the jewelry store in town where we lived and buy a piece of jewelry that was slightly more expensive than a pair of jeans (this was back in the day when Acne jeans were the coolest thing to wear) but still not crazy expensive. One piece of jewelry she bought was a bone (skeleton bone) in blackened silver that she wore in her ear. Just a single one - in the other ear she wore another ordinary earring. Another time she bought a ring designed like an insect, but with a large yellow gemstone (a citrine, I later learned) that made up the insect's body. It wasn't exactly my style, but I remember thinking it was so cool that she bought herself jewelry! She wore that earring and that ring every day and it became her signature style. So the short answer is of course: yes. Of course you should buy jewelry for yourself! (My friend agrees.)Jewelry can become your signature style, just like it became hers.
But it can also be a way to tell the story of your life. Many of the women I have met over the years have created their own stories to hang their jewelry on: it could be that you have changed jobs, moved, had a child, got through something big in life such as overcoming an illness, you want to remember someone who has been a loved one, mark that life has taken a new turn or just give yourself a gift for putting a challenging year behind you! You can even engrave something into the ring that becomes a symbol of it. Sometimes it can also be as simple as simply falling in love with a certain piece of jewelry and it becomes something that symbolizes a period of one's life.
The result is a jewelry collection where every piece of jewelry means something, and which you have built entirely yourself. Your own investments are mixed up with heirlooms, gifts and perhaps a wedding ring - to a personal jewelery collection that creates a very own story about your life!I see jewelry as an act of self-love. No one needs jewelry. But everything becomes so much more beautiful with jewelry in your life!
Before we part, I want to tell you about a woman whom I met in the goldsmith's studio in Katrineholm where we started making Mumbai jewelry many years ago. She had loved rings all her life, and had amassed a large collection - but she no longer wore them. But every night she would pick up the box where all the rings were lined up and look at them, and she was still just as happy every time. And that alone can be a reason to buy jewelry: because it is enjoyable.
I don't think everyone will love jewelry. But you who do, it is for you that we create them.
I have also written another article on the same theme here !
Listen to Episode 1: Can you buy jewelry for yourself? of Smkykespodden directly below or click here .
