Gold Winner - Flight of Fantasy by Kajal Naina

Congratulations to Kajal for her win on Pre-Loved to Treasure competition 2020.

"Flight of Fantasy" has been created from a collection of gemstones from old jewelleries from a client that have lost it’s use for her. She received the Agate hulu from her mother who is 92 years old and that gemstone has a lot of sentimental value to her.

Traditionally, the Hulu, also known as calabash or bottle gourd, was used in ancient China for storage of medicine and soup and hence was believed to have various healing properties. The Agate gemstone that the hulu is made from is believed to have its own healing and cleansing properties that ensures that the wearer’s spirits are harmonised and well balanced.

I decided that the hulu would be perfect as the star of this piece because of its gorgeous and bold colour as well as its significance in my client’s heritage and family whilst also ensuring that the necklace is environmentally friendly.  Surrounding the Hulu, I decided to create two gold birds swooping the hulu with a ribbon. The birds signify a record of this time of flight and change in her life as she is about to relocate from Hongkong to France her husband's country.

The body of the birds are made from pearls that I upcycled from my clients collection of random old unpaired pearls. We successfully incorporated  even a small piece of garnet that was removed from another old jewellery she had. The only extra thing we added was the small pink sapphire eyes on the birds.

The gold details on the necklace create a unique and elegant look to the necklace but without distracting from the hulu itself. Furthermore, we decided to make it in gold for it long lasting quality, low likelihood of allergy. So now this piece is also timeless and can be passed down from my client to her daughter the same way her mother passed it down to her and this can carry on from generation to generation.

My client is 54 years old stylish woman who loves wearing one of a kind jewellery and I think overall, I was able to transform my client’s gemstones and hulu into a beautiful necklace which has sentimental as well as cultural value and can be worn over and over again as a staple piece without ever going out of style.

Flight of Fantasy is made from upcycled Agate, Pearls and Garnet, pink sapphire added and set in 14K gold.