BEE

My younger brother Michael commissioned me to create a ‘push present’ for his pregnant wife Michelle – something that could be added to as their family grows, and something using the child’s birthstone. Michelle has very sophisticated style, so I knew the typical mother’s jewelry with a rainbow of colored gems was just not going to cut it. I suggested stacking bangle bracelets instead, which Michael readily agreed to. Then, for design inspiration, I looked to their unborn child. Their last name begins with the letter ‘B’, and the soon-to-be parents began referring to the baby as ‘Baby B’, which of course led to a shower of gifts with a Bee theme. I have never been one to incorporate literal interpretations, so rather than adding a bunch of insects to the bracelet, I instead created a garden of variously sized and organically placed flowers. The baby’s birthstone was going to be a sapphire, so in keeping with the Bee theme and the desire to stay away from bright colors, we set yellow sapphires in each of the flowers, thereby creating a golden apiary where any bee would be so lucky to live! Baby Bee was born October 11th, a healthy little girl named Kate Bee. The moral of the story is make sure your unborn child’s nickname is a good one, because they often stick…and if you can manage to have a line of jewelry named after her, all the better!