All good stories begin with a challenge

I was looking for something soft, and symbolic. Something considered. I wanted a stone that felt eye-catching, but not eye-wateringly expensive.

Jewellery is quite personal, isn’t it?

My searches were bringing up a lot of myth-inspired jewellery. Goddesses set in gold, gorgons leering, a nod to the age they came from.

But I didn’t want to wear a gorgon (though I do love that the option exists). I wanted something that was literary, not literal. Delicate. Wearable. No-one seemed to be doing it. 

Still, myth and jewellery seemed a natural pairing to me. The timelessness, the versatility, the storytelling possibilities. 

Myths helped Ancient Greeks make sense of the world around them. Helios, made of light, was the sun rising every day. Selene, his sister, drove her silver chariot – the moonrise. Unfortunate events meant you had displeased a God. You’d make offerings and prayers to try and win their favour.

As a love of the myths since I first became fascinated (and horrified) by the Minotaur, the stories feel just as relevant to interpreting our world today. You only have to look at the renaissance in fiction from brilliant writers like Madeline Miller, Pat Barker, Jennifer Saint, Natalie Haynes and many, many more to see just how resonant these stories still are.

But back to jewellery. The gods’ own adornments are central to our understanding of them – Athena’s breastplate, Selene’s crown, even Hermes’ sandals. They’re what allow us to recognise them in statues thousands of years later.

And I believe what we choose to adorn ourselves with communicates something about us too.

So I’d come back to this idea again and again. And finally, after months of scribbles, searching, annotating and ruminating… I bit the bullet and made the idea real. 

folio & stone was born. I hope you love it as much as I do. I have so much more to share with you.

Viki
Founder