My little exotic

If you have ever had time to browse through my jewelry collection, you will have certainly noticed that I like to use our native plants from Austria for my leaf jewelry: you will find oak, rose and sage, and even the nettle, which many despise as a weed. All of these plants have a permanent place in my leaf jewelry.

However, a small exotic plant has crept into my heart and thus into my leaf decoration: the ginkgo tree.

This immigrant from Asia fascinates me. Why, you ask?

Why I use ginkgo leaves as jewelry

Then join me on a wonderful journey to distant lands to a tree that has populated this world since time immemorial and is obviously able to bring out the good in us humans.

A billion-year-old witness

Isn't that incredible: The ginkgo tree is a plant that grew in the forests even in the time of the dinosaurs! I find this idea breathtaking: everything we know or suspect about this time comes exclusively from stones and bones. Nothing else living can give us the certainty that these times, their animals and plants, ever existed - nothing except the ginkgo tree!

When I work on my ginkgo jewelry , I sometimes get this strange feeling of connection to times long past. If a tree can live for over a thousand years, what has it seen? Who has rested in its shade, who has perhaps sought shelter from a storm? If a ginkgo leaf could talk, what exciting stories there would be to hear! It doesn't surprise me that people in China and Japan, the home of the ginkgo, revere this tree as wise and resilient. Ancient trees with a diameter of up to four meters stand next to temples, and people seek out these trees to seek advice from their branches and leaves in difficult times.

I find this thought beautiful, as it reminds me of our Germanic and Celtic ancestors, who also saw wise creatures in the old oaks and linden trees.

And who knows – maybe the wisdom and strength of the ginkgo rubs off on us a little when we wear ginkgo jewelry ?

A tree that stands for good

I am a very empathetic, sensitive person. The word "compassionate" has a meaning for me that is not always pleasant in my experience, but can also be stressful: I really "feel with" others. For example, when I see the news about children in war-torn countries or when someone tells me about a serious illness, I sometimes go so far that I feel the other person's pain too.

I need a lot of harmony in my life to be able to cope with that. That's why I love stories about "the good in people." Yes, I know that sounds a bit worn out, but that's the way it is.

And that's where the ginkgo comes in: I've heard that this tree stands for two wonderful things in its homeland of Japan and China: love and harmony, also in the form of the togetherness of man and woman, and peace.

A symbol of unity and togetherness

If you take a look at the leaf of a ginkgo tree and compare it with the leaves of other trees, you will certainly notice that it has a very special shape: it is in two parts, like the Chinese yin-yang symbol. In Asian philosophy, yin and yang represent opposites that can only exist together: dark and light, warm and cold, male and female. The ginkgo leaf also stands for this, and that is what I want to express with my handmade jewelry: jewelry connects us, it makes us beautiful and individual, but it also creates commonalities and a feeling of togetherness: we share the joy of beauty, of the things we like, of a feel-good attitude to life. All of my jewelry is handmade and therefore absolutely unique - just like the wearers. And in this uniqueness, we are all connected to one another.

A symbol of peace

I love this story and can’t hear or read it often enough:

When the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945, unspeakable suffering followed: thousands of people died, and the city remained contaminated and a place of horror for decades. Next to a temple near the city stood an old ginkgo tree that burned down completely in the disaster. Only the charred trunk remained standing. But then a miracle happened: after a while, this tree, which everyone had thought was dead, sprouted branches and leaves again! It had survived the inferno, despite these incredible injuries. The Japanese drew hope and strength for a new beginning from the history of this tree. It was declared a symbol of peace, and that is what it remains to this day: a beacon of hope for a peaceful humanity.

That's why the ginkgo is much more to me than just a tree and a beautiful art object for my leaf jewelry : When I hold one of my ginkgo leaf pendants in my hand, I feel the strength and hope that emanates from this tree. I go into my work day motivated and relaxed and even in difficult situations I find the peace to think carefully about certain things. The ginkgo leaves remind me that it's okay to say to myself occasionally: 'I feel I'm in the right, but I don't want to argue now.'

My handmade jewelry

When I make my jewelry, I don't just imitate nature - a leaf is far too delicate and unique. As a child, I wanted to be a gardener, and even then I loved the direct contact with flowers and leaves. My jewelry is taken directly from the leaves of the ginkgo tree, and just as each leaf is unique, my jewelry is also one-of-a-kind.

In my collection you will find ginkgo leaf pendants and ginkgo leaf earrings .

The ginkgo leaf pendants are discreet, delicate companions in everyday life, inconspicuous and almost overlooked. And yet they might flash at the right moment when the sunlight hits them and show your colleagues: You are something special (if they haven't noticed already)!

With my ginkgo leaf earrings you radiate strength and a connection to the earth. They are a little surprise for everyone you meet, as from a distance they look like an ordinary, round earring. Only on closer inspection does the fine, two-part leaf become visible.

My handmade jewelry is individual and unique - just like you.