About the Song and Sky Bird Pendant.
Order it from our online store now!
The Song and Sky collection began with the Bird Pendant and was inspired by 3 things.
1 – A CHARM BRACELET I OWNED AS A CHILD.
This old school charm bracelet was bought for me by my parents when I was about 11.
It’s got a lot going for it and I love it (especially the moving abacus and cat in a bin charms.) But it did get me thinking.
WHY do I have to celebrate everything at once? Why can I not celebrate my GCSE results without also remembering that holiday to the Isle of Wight? And that my name starts with an H?
HOW can this be made easier? We had to take every charm to a jeweller to have it soldered to the bracelet. Now I can solder, but I’d guess most of my clients can’t.
WHAT do I need to do to charm jewellery to make it look as good as non-charm jewellery? I wanted the function of charms – because they are fantastic – with the look of beautiful, elegant jewellery.
2 – ARTWORK CREATED FOR PLYMOUTH COMMUNITY PROJECTS.
I sometimes use a shared office in Plymouth – and it really its full of some of the most brilliant people and projects I have ever encountered.
The Library of Things AKA Borrow Don’t Buy and the Repair Cafe are both run by people who work in the same room as me, so I did some drawings for their launch materials.
And the pictures were of phoenixes.
At that point, I realised that phoenixes were A Thing That I Really Liked and drew lots and lots and lots of them.
Eventually, the phoenix images boiled down into a picture of a feisty little bird.
And the heart of my new charm collection was decided.
3 – A LOVELY LITTLE MECHANISM THAT I COULDN’T (AND STILL CAN’T) BELIEVE THAT NO ONE ELSE WAS USING.
When I worked out the mechanism behind the Song and Sky collection, the first thing I did (after a little dance) was to spend about 2 months checking that it hadn’t been done before.
From that research, I am very, very confident that it hasn’t.
I had to make something of the discovery. I worked hard to get the balance of the pieces right. I had to make a bird pendant that could sit perfectly well with no charm at all as well as carry anything I throw at it.
It is just so lovely and simple. The chain holds the charm on. There. There is even a threading tool enclosed with most of the charms to make the threading process easier.
The designs are all banked with the National Association of Jewellers and will all be fully hallmarked including my personal stamp.
…..
So that’s where Song and Sky came from. Over a year of work from just 3 little things!
Harriet Bedford
harriet bedford 