Sometimes you find yourself wondering why you exist. Is there a greater purpose, something you’re supposed to innately just know? And, how can you make a positive impact on the world?
People often refer to meaningful actions as “ripples in a pond”. The idea is that one small thing you do will affect something else that happens, which will affect something further along, and so on. Just like a pebble dropped into water, the ripples spread outwards until the entire pond is filled with them.
Now, I’m creative because creativity is my lifeblood. I’m not just being dramatic either – I firmly believe that without art of whichever variety you prefer, life wouldn’t be worth living.
I create because it keeps me going; I create because it’s one of my core purposes for existing. The form my creations take varies wildly – from music to jewellery, crochet to short stories. My artisan jewellery came about because I was creatively restless. I was having a music dry spell and I needed to make something, something real, something tangible.
I found chainmaille.
Chainmaille satisfies all my angles – it’s creative, it’s a bit of a challenge and requires skill to get it right, and it leads to a tangible product that I can look at and say, “I made this”. It’s something that, even when I’m otherwise feeling really low, I can feel proud of having put into the world.
Along with all this comes my other core purpose – making connections with other human beings. I believe so very strongly in connections: things like shared moments and experiences, shared taste in art or music, sharing a smile at a bus stop, even.
With music it was easy for me to connect the two. I knew and felt how strongly other people’s music had affected me (I’m one of those people who get literal goosebumps from a nice chord change or a delicious twist in the melody); it had got me through some pretty rough times and given me a reason to keep going when everything else seemed bleak.
With jewellery I didn’t, at first, realise how much of an impact I could make with my creations. Until someone told me, “Your main ‘why’ is to bring people together. Why don’t you make a community around your business?” I was already making the important pieces in the puzzle. I have been making Pride flag colours pieces almost since the start and I have always been open to custom orders to make something meaningful for that one person.
I realised that the way I wear jewellery myself, as a confidence boost, as a sort of “armour” against the scary world, as self expression and as a way of being visible, this isn’t just me. A lot of people wear jewellery for the exact same reasons. And that’s where I found my connection.
I help people be visible, be protected, be confident and most of all, be individuals. And when someone else comes along and says “Hey I love your bracelet, are those the Ace colours?” – that’s a shared moment. That is someone recognising who you are. That is probably a like-minded spirit, maybe even someone with a lot of shared experiences.
Turns out that in creating to survive, I am making connections all over the place. I have a small thread in people meeting, speaking, creating friendships over a shared moment. This is why I am. These are my ripples in the pond.
Be Proud. Be You.
