Inspired by History

A few months ago, my husband and I were watching a documentary on an archeological find in England. If you know me, you know I love anything to do with Archeology and so does my husband. We are both history nerds as well, so this is a usual and exciting Saturday night for us. The documentary was about the Staffordshire Hoard. It was quite captivating. The documentary showed how an amateur metal detector found the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork ever found in of all places a farmer’s field! The hoard consists of over 3,500 pieces of incredible garnet cloisonné jewellery. The hoard was most likely deposited in the 7th century, and contains artefacts probably manufactured during the 6th and 7th centuries. What makes this find so amazing besides the unbelievable workmanship was that everything was predominately made for men, nothing found was intended for a woman. These pieces were made to embellish and decorate warriors, armour and religious icons. From sword hilts to decorative buttons and crosses the pieces are just incredible in their detail.

It is thought that the hoard represents spoils from a battle which was hidden after battle and never recovered for some unknown reason.

While watching this documentary I was overwhelmed with inspiration. The patterning used on a lot of the pieces was so beautiful and to me very feminine despite its military application. Many of the pieces combined the things I love, architectural detail, historical significance and was interesting in a unique way. I literally was so excited about creating something from this inspiration it was quite comical. I could not contain the amount of ideas I had. So many ideas, so many new pieces!

My new collection is completely inspired by that find, specifically the pattern found in the sword hilt. Even though those pieces were intended to decorate a warrior I saw so much more in it. The designs and patterns they used were so beautiful!

I am convinced that inspiration can be found almost anywhere.

The new Saxon Collection is now available on the shop!

Click here to view it: Shop The Saxon Collection

#inspiredbyhistory #inspirationisallaroundus #historicalinfluence #ilovehistory