Mairy Jewellery was born from a love of craft, a celebration of beauty and a fascination with cultural anthropology.
Unlike many other crafts (textiles, ceramics, woodworking) jewellery making serves no real ‘practical’ function for survival, yet it is present archaeologically since the dawn of humanity.
The current earliest surviving example of jewellery are the Bizmoune Cave shell beads of Morocco. They are approximately 150,000 years old (predating cave art by tens of thousands of years). This creation and wearing of jewellery is the earliest evidence we have of symbolic thought – a crucial element of modern human behaviour.
One could argue, jewellery is the bridge between prehistoric and modern humanity – it is inextricably linked to the human experience. From a Middle Palaeolithic shell necklace, an Ancient Roman gold hoop earring, a Medieval era enamel pendant to a 2000s plastic friendship bracelet: humankind has indulged in personal adornment.
It is truly a thrill to be part of this ongoing story of jewellery, and to use the same forms, functions and materials that have been employed for tens of thousands of years across the world.
Jewellery has always been worn for a wide variety of reasons. I wish to provide pieces even just for the most simple pleasure of wearing something beautiful that can bring you joy (surely our ancestors had some of the same reasoning?). I hope for this jewellery to be a celebration of human culture, connected to women past, present and future.
