Some years ago (December 2007, to be exact), I saw this pendant at the annual Blue Genie Art Bazaar in Austin, TX, and knew I wanted it immediately. After many pretty-pleases with sugar on top, my boyfriend at the time caved and purchased it as a Christmas gift. It remains to this day one of my favorite possessions.
It’s funny though: I actually didn’t wear it out much at the time. Statement necklaces were hitting their stride, and so mostly I kept it safe in its box – an unassuming brown paper affair with three blue stars stamped on the top, and a short note from my boyfriend inside (and by “short” I mean short – four words of very deep meaning). Several years down the line, however, ultra-delicate jewelry feels fresh once again, and now – more than ever – it feels “correct” to really wear it.
There are loads of spidery gold necklaces currently available in stores, of course, along with a wealth of “DIY” blog posts on the Internet with instructions on how to make your own. That said, you really can’t manufacture the kind of meaning an object takes on when someone gives it to you, and when it sticks with you over the years; which is maybe a testament to the reason why I tend to hang on to certain items in my wardrobe, even after they’ve gone out of phase. After all, if it was any good in the first place it will eventually come back ’round again. (People use all sorts of buzzwords for this – “shop your closet,” et cetera – which I feel puts an unnecessary burden on the whole idea. It isn’t that complicated: simply hang onto things you like, and wear them when they feel appropriate).
The really important things will always stand the test of time.
At any rate: I remember I wanted this necklace because it reminded me of a tesseract. A 4-dimensional n-cube, or hypercube star, a representation of which you can see pictured below. I don’t know why; for most people it probably just looks like a tiny gold scribble. Not for me. For whatever reason, I have always loved looking at pictures of 4-cubes, and they remain for me a personal glyph for the infinite, seamless universe – a concise and elegant reminder of that which lies beyond the veil of time. It isn’t a great mystery to me as to why my mind went there. (Everyone has their thing: some people hang an Om on the wall or tattoo a picture of Yggdrasil on their ass. I like n-cubes. It’s all the same nonsense at the end of the day.)
Anyway: from the moment I saw it, this particular pendant took on the meaning of a talisman. A physical key to a mental doorway. One that is singular and unique to boot, that hasn’t lost any layers of meaning for me because I made it up myself. (Some images gather a lot of “dust” from pop culture; for example, you’ll never see some filthy hippie wandering around some festival wearing my scribble.) All the same, I feel it means much more now that I am able to share it with you. Plus, it’s pretty, and looks especially nice resting against my collarbones.
Sadly, I have to admit that I don’t remember the name of the designer; I must have seen and made note of it at the time, of course, but there wasn’t a tag or a card in the box and so the information has long since dissolved into the ether. I can only presume it must have been one of these people.
(Ah well. If you are or know the artist, please comment!)
So there you go. Cheers for now, friends; have a beautiful day, and “shop your closet,” if you must. After all: time is what keeps you from wearing everything in your wardrobe all at once.
