Love Is In The Air

Love is in the air… two weeks to go to Valentine's Day and I am in the mood for love. Now, before I go off and do the best things possible as far as love goes, which I will leave you to imagine yourself ;-)  I'll just go on a little about love and why it ended up as my jewelry.
As you might remember, I spent some time in Japan, and there I realized how some concepts are universal, while others take on a unique meaning of their own. Take love for instance, we love our children, we love our sweethearts, love chocolate and love going to the movies (especially if there's a good Love story in them.  For us, in English, we express all these feelings with the same word, Love… in Japan, you don't LOVE food, you like it. あい (AI), LOVE in the Japanese language is kept for the special romantic feeling between lovers, not a casual word to use. あい(愛AI) is a passionate word. You wouldn’t even dare say it to your girlfriend at first. At first it's always affection expressed by すき (好き, Suki), the affectionate like/love. If you truly feel it, then it's LOVE!
I wanted to feel that love all around me, wear it and display it, be able to give it and receive it…and so was born my Japanese Love collection, my love baby in some way. In it, I use a repetition of the word あい (愛AI), to create truly meaningful jewelry, to be given to loved ones, and worn close to the heart, filling us with true love.

 

Isn't it lovely to have love? I wish all of us that true feeling in the heart, and the pleasure of sharing the love… two weeks to go, are you ready?

All My LoVe (this time a lot of...:-))
Hila.

Happy New Year 2013

So, it's 2013! 

So, it's 2013! Well, I've been thinking about the meaning of 2013. 2000, that's a lot, but the 13 is the fun part. What about 13? 13 is a natural number after 12 and before 14, Is it a lucky number or an unlucky one? Depends on your beliefs I guess… 

Why is 13 unlucky?

In some cultures 13 is lucky. Pagan cultures, Judaism and even early Christianity saw it as lucky.  There used to be 13 months in the year and 13 signs in the zodiac. Jesus received the Magi on the 13th day, it's even the year a Jewish boy celebrates his bar mitzvah and becomes a man. Among other things that mean he can drink – now, wouldn't you consider that lucky? :-) 

Triskaidekaphobia, an acknowledged phobia of the number 13 is based in many cultures. Among others, the fact that the Mayan colander ended in 2012… so as we're passed 21.12.12 we should be looking forward to 2013 as a new beginning ;-) 13 became a big issue in the Middle Ages, as the 13th apostle at the last dinner was Judas. 
Thirteen is a prime; primes have always attracted attention (compare 7). What's worse, 13 is one past 12, the dozen, almost universally regarded as a perfect number, signifying harmony and all good things. Thirteen, by contrast, is a number of transgressions, taking matters one step too far, turning harmony into discord. 13 is also considered a feminine number, as there are 13 full moons a year. But 13's bad reputation may have more to do with fear of women, witchcraft, and disorder than is commonly supposed. (Taken from here).

I choose to see the good in numbers, as you will be seeing soon in my new collection. The beautiful numerology of the Time for butterflies collection combines numerological values for the important things in life - Health , Bliss, Love, Freedom, Courage, Peace, Blessing and Luck.  It's time for a new wonderful beginning.

Wishing you a blessed 2013 
and all my LoVe,
Hila

Jewish Christmas In Japan

Tokyo, December, cold and sunny, every departments store cheerfully decorated in Red Green and White Christmas decorations, a Christmas tree, 15 meter high springs up in Hachiko square…  Christmas jewelry for sale, Christmas carols played over loud speakers in the shopping streets, what a celebration.
And my friends... well, obviously, they're all excited about Christmas.  "So, what about you and Christmas?".  "Me… I don't celebrate… I'm Jewish…" I tell them.  "So?!" came back the puzzled replies… what's one got to do with the other?

It took me a few days longer of trying to explain why us Jews don't celebrate the birth of the Christian Christ until someone finally explained it to me… in Japan, and this I knew, they pick the fun parts out of stuff and adapt it to Japan.  In addition, the Japanese New year has been set to January 1st, when everyone goes back to their hometowns, to their families and has a traditional Japanese new year celebration. This makes Christmas the perfect time for celebrating with friends before you go home, and most importantly – it's the day to have a DATE!  Yep, if you're home alone on Christmas it's like not having a date for the prom…  

So with happy memories from Japanese Christmas and seasonal greetings, I leave you with photos of me in my Santa hat, with perfect Christmas jewelry, my red, green and white bracelet! :-)

All my LoVe and merry Christmas !

Hila.

Who Said Men Don't Wear Mokume Gane Rings?

So who said that men don’t wear Mokume Gane rings? Men like jewelry too, and when the jewelry is right, it looks great. Take my husband for instance, whose figure is posing in these very attractive photos :-)

A Mokume Gane ring can be considered ultimate jewelry for men, as it combines a number of colors and creates a unique pattern the wearer can identify with. It looks as if nature got involved in the forging process, and created a pattern through the forces of nature itself. Mokume Gane is hand crafted, creating a unique piece each time. A piece of art with a classical Japanese design, these rings hold a statement of style always relevant.

This Japanese technique where metals are pressed together to forge a unique looking piece I learnt in goldsmith school, and really fell in love with it when I moved to Japan, where I lived for 4 years and fell in love with the mokume gane galleries and artists. I decided I'd become one myself, and you can find a number of items in my collections. You can find many his and hers sets…

Today, I'd love to hear about your special other's jewelry… what does he wear? 

All my LoVe (and really soon a merry Christmas!)

Hila.