Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Why Jewelry

I have enjoyed every little bit of research I have done for this project so far because I have simply loved jewelry all my life. Gearing away from the actual process of design, I kept thinking of how much something some people would consider so insignificant can play such an important part in someone's culture. So I thought, why do we wear jewelry? Wikipedia had a straight up answer.

Reasons we use jewelry:
  • Functional, generally to fix clothing or hair in place, or to tell the time in the case of watches
  • As a marker of social status and personal status, as with a wedding ring
  • As a signifier of some form of affiliation, whether ethnic, religious or social.
  • Protection (in the form of amulets)
  • Artistic display
I was introduced to jewelry only days after I was born. The most simple piece: earrings. I do not remember not using earrings every since, and it definitely is a cultural thing. Was it intended to differentiate a baby girl from a baby boy? Maybe. But ever since then I do not feel comfortable without earrings. It sounds very simple, just because earrings can be so little, but then I began to research jewelry in different cultures. Throughout history we have seen some incredible pieces and it was fascinating to see a form of design is translated in so many different ways.

Ethiopian
Egyptian

Native American

 Geishas


Tribal

Pakistani


South East Asian :Burma








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