The connection between culture and jewelry is a bit like the chicken and the egg. But it’s not just a question of which came first. It’s also the fact that culture is embodied in jewelry and vice versa. It’s a mutual relationship, with each informing the other.
In today’s post-modern world, we’re moving into a new era of culture. Gone is the fundamentally modernist idea that we can understand what we value through pure scientific and technocratic modes of thought. Now, most people accept that there are non-realist elements to the world, and the only way we can probe these is through artistic endeavors, such as custom jewelry making.
That’s a big shift. But it’s also undergirding today’s reawakening when it comes to accessories. People want items that reflect something about their culture and, therefore, themselves.
So, what types of trends are we seeing? Read on to find out.
The Rediscovery Of Beauty
The tragedy of the modern world is the primacy of function over form. Architects and designers created buildings and products designed to shelter us from the rain or generate returns for investors. But they didn’t cater to our other fundamental need for beauty.
That, however, was an essentially modernist project. It was the idea that aesthetics don’t matter and that “your idea of beauty is just as valid as mine.”
But in post-modern times (when we leave the modern behind), that’s all changing. We’re looking back to the traditional era when beauty was the primary reason for creating something, and the function it offered was a secondary byproduct. Accessories from the past embody stylistic motifs we need to make existing in the modern world more bearable. They give us beauty when contemporary attempts at art do not.
The Need For Roots
All traditions and cultures provide a story for why we’re here and what we should be doing with our precious time on Earth. But modern scientism denies us this privilege, telling us that we’re the result of the mindless interactions of particles. That’s not an attractive account for anyone. And it says nothing about what we should be doing with ourselves.
Jewelry is a tool that we can use to remind ourselves of our roots. It’s physically close to our bodies. And it can encapsulate many of the important things that we believe about ourselves and the purpose of being. Jewelry provides foundations in a world that seems spiritually and metaphysically cast adrift.
The Need to Celebrate
All traditions and cultures have their celebrations. And now jewelry makers are entertaining various concepts in the form of accessories. Strange notions such as “Bento box bling” featuring rolls of sushi on rings, or supersized-tribal jewelry you wear on your head the size of camping roll mats are all part of that same spirit of fun. It’s about living life fully and using the wisdom of culture to channel that impulse.
Learn about how tradition shapes accessories in fascinating ways and how jewelry itself can have a profound impact on the wider culture.
