Jewelry’s Modern Milestones
As long as humans have been crafting and wearing jewelry, we’ve chosen precious talismans to celebrate our most important moments and events.
In the last few decades, these milestones have mainly been traditional celebrations; weddings, engagements, and anniversaries. Jewelry has commonly been something gifted to you by another person, and often in celebration of romantic or familial love.
But these days, you don’t need to find The One in order to invest in celebratory fine jewelry. A large part of what we do at SKYDOG is creating custom, personal pieces - and the reasons our community has for commissioning pieces are diverse. Here are just some…
Personal & self-purchase
A piece of jewelry doesn’t need to be a gift to have meaning. Choosing and buying jewelry for yourself can be empowering - whether it’s to mark a change of direction, a challenge overcome, or a dream realized. Or simply, to reflect you.
At the heart of this pendant was our client’s birthstone, a way to make the piece personal.
When creating or finding a piece for yourself, drawing on symbolic motifs or gemstones can be a beautiful way to add meaning to your piece. Engraving is a classic way to add favorite quotes or lyrics to even a minimalistic piece. The polished pieces of our Cygnus collection have been designed for personalization.
Self-gifted jewelry is sometimes chosen for the most specific reasons. A new job, a new city, a fresh start - these all are reasons we’ve been tasked with creating jewelry. A symbolic gemstone can provide a subtle nod to the path you are taking - aquamarine, for instance, to mark the clarity of mind in making a decision.
New love and new life
Marking love doesn’t need to mean an engagement. Love at any stage, from its first flush to decades old, is a reason to celebrate with jewelry.
While a ring might be the classic choice to show commitment, a pendant or bracelet is a more modern alternative - and less loaded with traditional symbolism!
The birth or arrival of a baby is another new beginning that deserves a piece of jewelry. There are so many ways to mark an addition to your family - jewelry incorporating star signs, date engraving, names or initials, or birthstones.
Last year we created a beautiful toi et moi ring for Jordan’s sister and her newborn. Pairing their birthstones - diamond and tsavorite garnet - it’s a contemporary piece that is a subtle nod to mother and baby.
Home & adventure
The places we travel and the places we call home inspire and shape us. Sometimes, you want to carry the experiences and memories of a place with you, to preserve the intangible feelings forever.
We can use materials and motifs to evoke the places that mean most. This gold pendant was designed for a client’s brother, and we used a stylized basil leaf to nod to their Italian heritage.
When you’ve returned from a life-changing trip, we can source gemstones from that area to set into a permanent memento. Or, we can draw on motifs from the cultural or geographical environment to create a unique design.
Modern jewelry is more free and exciting than ever. When choosing jewelry for your modern milestone, you can choose to embrace or ignore the traditional rules of symbolism and celebration.
Mark a brand new relationship instead of waiting to pledge your futures together. Celebrate the places and people that have changed you. Forge a new way forward with jewelry to mark a new chapter in life.
As with all jewelry, there doesn’t need to be symbolism intrinsic to a design to mark a milestone. Once you choose a piece, it becomes imbued with meaning. But if you love the idea of a significant accent, the choices are endless. Gemstones, engraving, and subtle design details can all be used to add a personal nod to your jewelry.
Have your own modern milestone to celebrate? Explore our signature lines or let’s talk over your ideas for a custom design.