Charm jewelry is hotter than ever now that it has shaken off its former uncool reputation as a mall-jewelry-store staple. Today’s chicest designers craft charms in a wide range of styles, allowing stylish women to personalize their jewelry with chic charms. MUSE, a New York-based fine-jewelry agency, has jumped on this charming trend to promote a charitable initiative — Have a Heart — by commissioning designers to create bespoke charms to benefit nonprofits and charities around the world. Each drop is curated by a fashionable ambassador who selects a charity that is close to their heart. Ten percent of all sales benefit the charity.
MUSE recently announced an expansion of the initiative featuring upcycled and recycled charms, as well as a new brand ambassador, Meeling Wong, a jewelry consultant who has worked with David Yurman, John Hardy, and Georg Jensen. The collection features charms from six designers, including Annoushka Jewellery, Christopher Thompson-Royds, Fernando Jorge, Graziela, NN by NGHI, and Ten Thousand Things. Wong hopes the program will spark a conversation about consumerism and how we can be more thoughtful and sustainable while still honoring craftsmanship and our personal style. “This project inspired me to think differently about how to contribute without wasting,” she said. “The six designers who partnered with us on this journey have created their Have A Heart charms with recycled materials, repurposing old gemstones and using scrap materials from their own archives.
The designers rose to the challenge and enjoyed working within these limits. Annoushka said, to us, it seems obvious to recycle the gold already in circulation, rather than continuing to mine limited resources – recycled gold is just as beautiful and holds the same value as newly-mined gold and yet has 600 times lower carbon emissions than newly-mined gold.” Christopher Thompson-Royds made some unexpected discoveries during his designing — he used gold dust from his bench and even found diamonds on the floor of his studio. NN by NGHI also upcycled and enjoyed “giving neglected materials new life.” Ten Thousand Things also repurposed glamorous scraps, using leftover cuttings of black mother-of-pearl.
Fernando Jorge upcycled an existing piece into a heart charm. “Repurposing is intrinsic to jewelry because of the nature of the materials, however, the challenge to look into my own work and approach my older designs opened up many possibilities in my mind,” he said. Graziela described the project as difficult but said, “To be able to repurpose diamonds and gold reclaimed from our old pieces in order to create these heart charms felt incredible.”
Wong selected charity:water as her nonprofit organization. Proceeds will benefit its projects to end the global water crisis by funding projects worldwide.
The charms are available for purchase at MUSE Shop in New York City’s West Village and on musexmuse.com. MUSE will host an event at its West Village boutique during NYC Jewelry week on November 18th. In addition to donating 10% of sales from the Have a Heart charms, MUSE will donate 10% of all sales from all of its designers during the event.
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