Bespoke; Goddess Inspired Eco Silver Necklace

When E first got in touch it was through Instagram. She mentioned the earrings she already owned and loved reminded her of a necklace worn by Elsa in Disney’s Frozen II. We had a bit of a giggle about it. It’s not the first time someone has mentioned that a piece of jewellery they’ve seen in a Disney film reminded them of a piece from Laconic! 

E loved the idea of the necklace so much and asked if I could actually make one for her (inspired by, of course!). Since E already had a pair of earrings inspired by one winter goddess, I thought it’d be a fun project to introduce another queen of winter!

Creating design mood boards

I mocked up some mood boards to form the basis of my design influences. For this project I thought it’d be great to incorporate a gemstone to create a focal point in the design. I decided that for a truly bespoke piece, I’d offer the option of making a custom clasp too. 

The next step was to arrange a Zoom chat with E. Since E was based in Canada, this was the easiest way for us to communicate. I prepared a slideshow of the mood boards along with some samples of chains/shapes/forms to help visualise the design better.

I’m sure E must’ve been overwhelmed with the questions I asked her during this call! However, I like to get as much detail as possible to ensure that we’re making the correct design decisions together. If a piece is intended for wear everyday then it must be designed so that it can be worn everyday! By choosing materials and making these decisions, E can ensure she has a piece that, with the right amount of care and maintenance, will last and could be passed down generations too.

Designing with a gemstone

During this chat E admitted she didn’t think it’d be possible to get a gemstone incorporated into her piece within the budget she set. I knew it was a possibility, depending on the gem chosen! I researched a variety of shaped/coloured gems and created a few rough sketches to show how each might look. These would be shown in our next meeting.

E was undecided on a few different shaped gems. In the end she decided to choose an icy blue topaz to incorporate into this winter goddess inspired design. This decision enabled me to research shapes readily available or if we needed to get a stone custom cut. From here, I created a selection of designs using three different shaped gemstones to see how they’d look in comparison. 

The gemstone chosen is a concave cut pear shaped blue topaz from Brazil. I loved the look of this due to its special cut which makes it appear as if frozen ice. The pendant shape was hand carved in wax and cast in recycled silver. The bezel for the stone was hand fabricated and soldered into this cast form. Ready for the stone to be set!

The completed eco silver necklace

When I’d finished this project, it was packaged up and ready to be sent to E. This contained a bespoke material origin card with details of how the piece was made and completion date. This was such a fab project to work on, creating a bespoke piece to compliment one of my existing designs. E messaged to say she even wore this necklace during a movie marathon of the film she was inspired by. What a great idea to show it off to friends!

Here’s what E had to say about working with me:

Everything about the bespoke experience was incredible. Lindsay is so thoughtful, knowing exactly the right questions to ask to ensure she’s getting the full creative vision from you – even when you’re completely unfamiliar with the behind-the-scenes of jewellery-making. There were some things I couldn’t have thought of on my own that Lindsay presented to me because of her expert eye. It’s like she knew what I wanted before *I* knew I wanted it. I was 100% in-the-know and excited for my final piece the entire time.

Have you got a Laconic piece of jewellery already and are looking for a more bespoke piece to match? Get in touch to find out what we could design together!