The M & H Love Story
Every piece of jewellery has a back story, regardless of price, size and material. Some are short stories, and some are EPIC love stories.
Imagine my absolute luck and fortune to be able to do a job where I not only get to hear these wonderful stories, but I get to be part of designing and making the next episode!
It’s 1985, Seville. The sun is out and the city has turned up its charm. A young student is over from the US for a year. It’s not surprising that she falls in love with the beautiful city. But another love is also blossoming. With a strapping young Sevillano! The relationship grows and becomes something that neither had expected! Visiting each others families and intertwining in each others lives. It’s really as serious as it could get. But alas, a study year abroad will inevitably come to an end. They kept their relationship going long distance, he gave her a gold ring to show his commitment, but eventually, but their life paths led them in separate directions. She was heading off to law school and for him, the grasp of his motherland was too strong.
Fast forward to 2017. The romance of 1985 is but a distant memory. The lives of the 2 lovers couldn’t be more different. The Sevillano had stayed in his homeland and built a family. Our young student worked hard, went to law school and forged herself a high flying career in law. Now, the Sevillano’s marriage had ended and his mind started drifting back to that young love of his, whatever became of her? He wanted to find her, but here in the world was she? He tried search but had no luck. He told a good friend of his of his search, who joined in on the hunt. The friend did some clever detective work and threw some feelers out there and came back with a lead! There was a campaign website. The candidate running for district attorney was none other than that who had stolen his heart 32 years prior! Oh and whats this?! The candidate profile said that this candidate’s marital status was : SINGLE.
So he sent her an email. Would she even remember him? She wasn’t married, but was she in a relationship?! There’s no harm in trying right? Nothing to lose, and after all, they were old friends anyway.
She was indeed single and was overjoyed to hear from her old love. After only exchanging emails, they organised a trip to meet again, in Seville, Spain. She needed holiday anyway, and if there was nothing there, then fine, they were firm friends with great shared memories. 32 years since they first met, they met again. And it was there. The same feeling was there! They spent 10 beautiful days together, reminiscing old times and getting to know each other afresh. At the end of their perfect holiday together, there was no way of denying it. They were a couple and they would be together forever, just the slight issue of that bothersome ocean, which still sat between them. By 2019, she decided to retire from the DA’s office and moved to Seville. He, who had already been married once and thought he would never marry again, proposed. They now live VERY happily in Seville, where they got married in June 2021!!
H’s jewellery that she will wear on her wedding day is all made from gold which she was given by her grandmother and mother who are no longer with us.
H was a dream client. She wanted jewellery made to be worn at her wedding, she was open and flexible in regards to the style and she had the dreamiest story to go with it all.
We started off by having a design review on Pinterest. I added loads of different types and styles of jewellery to be able to start understanding her style and type of thing she wanted. We picked a few items which would stand as inspiration. I started prototyping and designing. The earrings came first. H wanted big statement earrings which would be light weight and wearable both with a wedding dress and also wearable afterwards.
The jewellery that she inherited from her mother and grandmother contained a beautiful mixture of stones including pearls, garnets and diamonds. When discussing ideas, H liked an image of a sputnik pendant, so I decided to make a very unique sputnik pendant, featuring a mix of stones from all the existing jewellery. Every element of this is made by hand using only the melted gold from her existing jewellery. The chain belonged to her mother too. The mother and grandmother are no longer with us, but this necklace, a part of them will be at the wedding too.
H had cufflinks made for M so that she could gift him something for the wedding. The cufflinks were made using the recycled gold and silver above! But, not just any old gold! The gold from the 1985 token of love is inlayed in the cufflinks to make the monogram MH. I also used the gold from that special ring to make the little nuggets that hang in the centre of the earrings.
The gold ring that M gave H in 1985. The ring and the bangle were melted down to make the cufflinks and the gold was also used for the central diamond studded nugget in the earrings.
This story exemplifies true love and the idea of people who are ‘meant to be’. I’m just so glad to have been a part of this as a jeweller. I can’t believe my job gets to be this meaningful. I’m so happy for the couple and not only that they found each other, but that they found me as this project was just so rewarding and H was a dream client.
The Happy Couple on their wedding day – June 2021, Sevilla
Thank you for putting your faith and your gold in my hands!!
If you’re reading this and have jewellery that has transformation potential, get in touch for a completely free initial consultation.