In the blink of an eye, the new year is officially in motion. In the jewellery world, we spend the final months of the year moving at a relentless pace, focused on design, retail velocity, and sales. Like you, I find myself emerging from the holiday rush seeking a clearing. By year's end, the accumulated noise reaches a point of saturation, momentarily obscuring the clarity of our creative center.
I see this journey reflected in the diamond's structural alignment. Each year is a deliberate new cut, a refinement of the angles through which we see the world. Our early years provide the foundational rough form, but as our perspective matures, we are cutting for brilliance, returning light to those who engage with our work.
When a year ends, that facet is polished and set. To begin again is simply to tilt the diamond, adjusting our position to capture more light. The brilliance of the next facet depends entirely on the integrity of the ones cut before it. To me, it is not about erasing our foundation; it is about clearing the surface to make space for the next layer of brilliance. We are not starting over. Rather, we are starting from.
THE STRATEGIC CLEARING
This philosophical realignment requires a practical counterpart: the strategic clearing. It is an active, disciplined examination of my body of work, spanning design history, past and upcoming collections, artistic projects, and collaborations.
As the new year begins, I often wonder why we feel this collective pull toward a fresh start. More than a date change, it feels like a moment of shared consciousness ready to dream. To me, the calendar is a powerful tool, creating a space to exhale the residue of the past and inhale the possibility of what is next. It provides a shared rhythm to reset our creative clocks together.
THE GEOMETRY OF BRILLIANCE
I have come to view our creative journey as the perpetual faceting of a diamond. For those of us who think in form and light, imagine the diamond not as a static object, but as a vessel moving through space. Each year represents a full rotation around our central core. We return to the same "start" point every January, yet we never return to the same place. This is the beauty of creative tenure; we return to our center to recalibrate our intent before we launch into the next, wider loop.
I review these to identify comfort zones and patterns that need challenging, and to ensure I am becoming increasingly mindful in the partnerships I choose moving forward. Just as a master cutter studies a rough stone before making the decisive cut, this examination is the clearing. It sets the tone for the year ahead and reflects in my creative expression and impact.
PERSPECTIVE ANDINTENTION
As we move into a new cycle, I am leaning into the power of a perspective shift. In a fast-moving market, it is easy to lose our sense of awe. When we treat the year’s start as a conscious return to intention, we rediscover the soul of our craft. We shift from forecasting what we think the world wants to intending and creating what we believe should exist.
We work with materials billions of years old. That alone gives us the ultimate perspective. The past year’s saturation is just raw material for our next inquiry. As we tilt the diamond toward the light, what vision are you ready to give form?