I believe it’s time to reintroduce jewelry to a new generation. Many of us fully understand the role jewelry has played in human history and how jewelry still captures our imaginations and communicates who we are as people. Yet, there exists an increasingly large demographic that hasn’t experienced what jewelry represents. Perpetuated by a society marked by the rise of gadgets and hunger for the next new thing. In this article, I hope to express that we should not compare jewelry and tech, that jewelry has extrinsic qualities that evoke memories and jewelers are very skillful designers of these objects tied so closely to human emotion.

First, I understand this want to buy new technology. Frankly, I love new technology. Enticed by marketing efforts of Steve Jobs, I grew anxious for every release of the next new apple product. I also, appreciate efforts to fuse technology with jewelry in the form of wearable tech. However, consumers shopping for a gift must be mindful when comparing jewelry and technology. I’m certain you’ve seen the recent headlines. “Has Technology Killed the Jewelry Industry?” or “Is Technology Tripping Your Jewelry Business?” These articles are smart and examine the trend of consumer interest in purchasing technology over jewelry. When purchasing gifts should we compare the two? I don’t believe so.

While technology is fun and has utility, it lacks the emotional connection that jewelry has with people. We cannot grow attached to a device that's designed to be antiquated in one or two years. When has a daughter inherited a pager or laptop from her mother so that she may pass it down to her daughter? We would consider it odd to hold on to flip phones from 10 years ago, with the purpose of daydreaming of the loved ones that gifted them to us. Where have all the AOL CDs gone? Then on the flip-side, have we ever wasted hours playing Angry Birds on our new engagement ring? The comparison of jewelry and technology should end, but not only that, we need to categorize each separately when making purchases. We should never ask the question, “should we buy new iPhones or buy handmade bracelets?” When giving the gift of utility, then give tech. When giving the gift of memory, love and timelessness, choose jewelry.

Let’s dig in deeper on the qualities of jewelry. I have a friend that often jokes, “Jewelry making is the second oldest profession.” In many ways, he’s correct. When humans began making jewelry, around 40,000 years ago, it marked a time Historians call “the dawn of modern man.” Humans evolved to a point beyond survival. We no longer worried about fulfilling our basic needs for food, water, and shelter. During this time, we began to create. We made art. We asked ourselves why we exist. This is when we created and wore jewelry to represent our beliefs. Today, this is just one of the extrinsic qualities of jewelry. Jewelry represents something greater. We use jewelry to express ourselves, to represent who we are, where we come from and what we've accomplished.

For me personally, a strong example of what jewelry represents happened over dinner with a good friend. My friend and I were deep in discussion about her late grandmother. She was telling this incredible story of her grandmother and suddenly paused mid-sentence. Excusing herself from the discussion, she went to her bedroom and returned holding a jewelry box. Sifting through the box, she showed me her grandmother’s engagement ring and various brooches. She told stories about her grandmother’s life as she held each piece. At that moment, it occurred to me that jewelry had a unique feature of representing memories in time. Every piece of jewelry locked a moment away that could be revisited simply by holding the piece. My friend didn’t go to her bedroom and return with shoes or hats because those objects are largely considered fashion. She returned with jewelry. Jewelry may act as fashion, but that night it was so much more as each piece had a story to tell.

The last aspect of jewelry that has impressed me is not simply about the pieces themselves, but those who create them. The jewelers. Like them, we are all designers. We design everything around us, the roads, desks, gadgets, and spreadsheets. We take basic elements and combine them to create something new. Unlike them, some of us choose to work with more forgiving basic materials. The basic elements jewelers use are some of the smallest, fragile, inflexible, malleable, rare and expensive materials known to man. Creating with silver, gold, platinum, diamonds, stone and pearls offer unique challenges. Yet, jewelers manage to transform a diverse group of elements into pieces of jewelry that are not only beautiful but stand the test of time. Jewelers like many artists speak through their art. Patience and steady hands express themselves through gemstones cradled in settings. Personalities reflect off metal and finish. Jewelers place a bit of their own story into their creations.

I hope this provides insight into why I consider jewelry important. We must adjust our perception by discontinuing the comparison of jewelry and technology. We must continue to tell stories through heirloom jewelry and lock in memories to come within newly created pieces. We need to recognize the masterful efforts of those who create jewelry as it's through their craft that we tell our stories. Finally, we need to educate a new generation about jewelry's importance. Jewelry is not just fashion, art, symbols of emotion, personality or faith, promises, antiques or objects that trigger memories, it’s all of the above. Jewelry is an important piece of our human history and should stay a stable part of our future. It’s through understanding jewelry that we discover so much of who we are.