ELEPHANT RING

Solid Silver

A reflection on the mourning rings of the Victorian Era, this piece of jewelry is intended to create a new paradigm for reflecting on loss. Victorian mourning rings were often black and contained the hair of the deceased, befitting an age when dealing with death was a much more common and accepted aspect of life.  However, these rings were inherently specific to individual, and lost their emotional resonance as they were passed down over generations. I was interested in creating a piece of mourning jewelry that could be passed down from generation to generation that would allow for "transferable" emotional meaning; a kind of blank slate on which people could imprint the memories of whichever loved person gave it to them.

Cast in pure silver, the elephant design stemmed from the idea that elephants may treat death in a way very similar to humans, possibly even crying when sad and mourning their dead. It was also intended to be abstract enough that each individual could find their own relationship to it, in a way that an engraved ring does not allow.  More of a keepsake than a piece of everyday jewelry, this ring updates a traditional form of mourning and creates a feeling of connection between distant generations.