Finding my way as a jewelry designer:

Many years ago I embarked on a journey of self discovery to the incredibly vast, beautiful, bountiful, magical land of my ancestors, the continent of Africa.

Kenya was my introduction to a culture and way of life that broadened my understanding of humanity and the ties that bind us as human beings. The joy I witnessed among the people there, the many kindnesses, large and small which I received and accepted with deep appreciation were transformative for me. The good fortune to meet and know people who had so little, willing to give so much, to me, a stranger. To this day my heart swells with gratitude at the memory.

One of my greatest lessons from that time was the realization that we, here in the “developed” world, are bombarded with so many material things that we do not need. Yet the deception persists, that the source of our happiness, our value no less, is found in the accumulation of so many of those things. This can make it very hard for one to parse which items are actually special and hold true, profound, lasting meaning. This sensibility is heightened considerably in our culture now, where so many things are disposable, quickly, cheaply and conveniently replaced with more and more disposable things that poison our air, land, waterways, oceans and minds with the endless pursuit to acquire the next shiny new thing, and the next, and on and on.

My inspiration to create a jewelry collection of timeless, collectible, uncommon treasures from vintage and found objects from around the ethnic & tribal world is the antidote to that thinking. The intrinsic knowing that certain objects not only radiate beauty and are visually appealing, but can be durable, non-disposable, accessible and deeply meaningful across cultures, borders and artificial boundaries of all kinds.

Jewelry that reminds us that we share infinitely more in common than anything which would serve to divide us.

Thus was born Aklia’s