Interview with Photographer Anne Geddes
When I was a little girl I absolutely adored Anne Geddes' photography. Looking back it seemed to foreshadow my love for babies and desire to become a mom. Or maybe I just loved looking at babies in flower pots.... who knows? Either way, I have been a fan for a long time, which is why I was so excited at the chance to get to meet her to discuss her new jewelry collection. The 'Protect Nurture Love' jewelry collection stays true to Anne's belief that, "all children must be protected, nurtured and loved." The collection is beautiful, of course, and very motherly, just take a look and you'll see why. Also read on for a few questions with Anne:
What was the inspiration behind this collection?
For many years I had thought about how creatively exciting it would be to design a beautiful and meaningful jewelry collection - one that represented the values behind my work, both visually and emotionally. My art and storytelling for the past 30 years has been a joyful celebration of new life. And always, my underlying message has been the appreciation of new life, and the importance of babies in our lives for everything that they represent - purity, innocence, promise and our eternal chance at new beginnings. I love to explore the parallels between ourselves and other everyday miracles of nature, placing these complementary wonders side by side in an attempt to evoke a deeper appreciation of the simple yet deceptively complex beauty of our existence. Pregnant women and tiny babies are the human face of my work, yet all of nature is caught in this insistent stream of seasons, of aging and rebirth, of concealment and bursting forth. Even though I have been photographing babies for so long, every time I unwrap a newborn I am aware of the miracle before me.
Who is this jewelry for?
The pieces in my range are for every woman, as a celebration of the gift we were given ... nurturers of new life. They are certainly a beautiful and meaningful gift for someone who is expecting a child, or has recently given birth ... but also in a broader perspective, I would love each piece to be seen as a beautiful, universal symbol of life and love from a female perspective … a celebration all of the special relationships we nurture in our daily lives. A daughter heading off to college perhaps? Recently somebody told me that to her, the “Genesis" piece was a perfect gift for someone special who just needs a gentle hug. I loved that. These days I think that our world needs a big gentle hug. Really, the sentiments are endless.
Why pearls?
Nature makes a newborn baby so magical to us … and so with a pearl. I have always loved everything about pearls ... hence they were an obvious choice to include in these pieces; and a pearl is the world’s only gemstone with a natural gestation period. Their soft, luminous colors always feel so natural, and pearls become even more lustrous the longer they are worn. The pearls within each piece in my collection, represent the miracle of life. And whenever the pearl represents a baby, a tiny diamond has been embedded, to celebrate the individual spark within every new life, and therefore the individual spark within us all.