Sultry Days and Signet Rings

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks during this summer on a small island in the Canaries. I have a lot of affection for this archipelago and the island of Lanzarote in particular. It has been a favourite place for family holidays for many years and what strikes me whenever I go there, is how clean it always is. Over the years there have been a lot of changes, most of them positive but one thing that has not changed is the overall aesthetic of the island and the fact that there is very little if any litter anywhere. The sea fronts are clean, the beaches are pristine, most of the properties on the island are one or two storeys high and whitewashed – it’s a great blueprint image for how an island should be. This perfect esthetic did not happen by accident, it is due in great part to one man, the artist Cesar Manrique and those who’ve come after him who wish to preserve his legacy. He grew up on the island and returned in his later years to protect the island from over development. He was way ahead of his time in terms of hoping to minimise the environmental impact humans would have on the planet. His mantra was ‘without ethics there are no aesthetics’ and he certainly lived by that. He aimed to combine progress with nature in a sustainable way and all the projects he was involved in on the island of Lanzarote are testament to this. If you ever get the chance to visit this fantastic island, you can learn more about Manrique and his art and architecture by visiting his foundation, set up to continue and showcase the wonderful work that he achieved during his life...

We’ve recently launched our Ola Signet rings at Pureshore. Originally designed with a practical purpose in mind, signet rings were used as a way of stamping approval or authority on a document in the days way before a signature became commonplace. They were generally worn on the pinky finger. Usually bearing a family crest or mark and always magnificent and reverse engineered so that the design would display perfectly when stamped, they were an important part of a wealthy family’s insignia.

Nowadays, signet rings are mostly worn as a fashion statement but still usually worn on the little finger and can add interest to any jewellery collection. The Ola Signet ring has the cresting wave of diamonds and is available in silver or yellow gold vermeil. You can find them here https://www.pureshorejewellery.com/collections/ola/products/ola-signet-ring

Olivia x