Hello everyone and welcome to this month’s installment of Welcome to the Insta-Hood! Where I interview fascinating people and their Instagram accounts! This time I interview fellow IG account @thesacredorder
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Tell me a little bit about yourself.
“I’ve always known I wanted to spend my days creating beautiful things – following this passion I moved from Southern California to San Francisco at the age of 18 to study drawing and painting. After earning my degree I began working as a graphic designer doing page layout and catalog design. Eventually I discovered the world of textile design which was the perfect mix for my painting and computer skills.
I enjoyed many years creating prints and artwork for the fashion industry. This path naturally led to managing creative teams and to apparel design. This decade long career took me on shopping trips all over the world from New York to London, Paris, Antwerp, Barcelona and Milan. These far away places inspired a curiosity and desire to seek out rare items and fostered a passion for collecting antique jewelry and oddities.
I recently have left the apparel industry and moved from the San Francisco Bay Area north to Petaluma, CA in the beautiful Sonoma County. I live in a funky 1900’s house with my husband who is a tattooer and our adorable, yet feisty, 5 year old son.”
2. What is the meaning of your Instagram name?
“I love a good mystery and nothing is more mysterious to me than secret societies. The Sacred Order is an homage to these brotherhoods and sisterhoods that have had known and unknown influence over our society for decades. I also love the word ‘sacred’ in the sense of being reverently dedicated to some person, purpose, or object. I hope the items I select and create can be symbols of this for other and add sentiment to their everyday.”
3. What made you want to start your own business?
“Throughout my life I have created intense bonds with physical objects that encapsulate memories – my favorite of these objects has been jewelry. I love that I can live my life with these memories on my fingers or around my neck and make new connections with new pieces as I see fit. They are like a wearable journal connecting me to my past and to the people who are important to me. Jewelry has sentiment, power, beauty and always makes me feel more myself when I’m wearing it. I am fascinated by antique and vintage jewelry as it can come to me having already bared witness to a life other than my own. I think scratches, wear patterns and oxidation are beautiful – in them you have something so human and real. In 2014 a desire to share this love with others inspired me to open an online shop and The Sacred Order was born.
4. What is current favorite piece of jewelry that you are selling? What is a favorite piece that you own and why?
“I have 2 favorite pieces in my collection currently. One is a mourning ring from 1773 with a hand painted skeleton under glass with a pearl border and decorative setting. This piece is as beautiful as it is sentimental – made with incredible artistry and a dramatic design. It’s hard not to fall in love with it!
The other is a vintage snake ring I have recently acquired. It was created circa 1940’s. I find it to be the most beautifully graceful design that looks amazing on the hand. I consider keeping it every time I put it on! I love the detailed face with it’s emerald eyes, the sizable diamond on top of it’s head and the time worn engravings throughout. You can see it was well loved in it’s previous life.
In my own collection I absolutely love every piece I have for what it means to me and what time in my life it came to me. It’s so hard to pick a favorite! The piece I never travel without is an antique chain I acquired in London from Anina Vogel (antique lovers should check her work out!). I have since added several charms that are meaningful to me…A bean locket with a snip of my sons hair from his first haircut, a letter “K” (my husbands initial) with a snake entwined (I was born in the year of the snake), and a Victorian evil eye charm that was a gift from my best friend. There is room for several more and I intend to keep adding until it’s full of even more memories.”
5. What is your favorite decade or period of jewelry and why?
“I love Victorian jewelry. I am a sucker for mourning jewelry – I love that it honors the dead, is ripe with symbolism, is primarily black (my favorite color with gold), showcases beautiful engravings and can preserve the most personal of mementos in the form of hair. I love that grieving a loved one was not hidden or hurried along. Society was encouraging to outwardly show what you were going through which feels much healthier to me than ignoring death and denying mourners their grief. I also love Victorian jewelry for the popularity of snakes, a favorite motif of mine. When Prince Albert proposed to Queen Victoria with a snake ring it became all the rage in romantic gestures and a lasting symbol of eternal love. In addition Victorian’s preoccupation with superstition, masquerade balls, court jesters and animals opens up incredible iconography to be used as inspiration – there’s always something interesting and unique to find in the jewelry of this time period.”
6. Do you have any upcoming events or news you would like to share?
“I am taking a short break from live events, but will updated my “Events” page and instagram as I book more of these.
I have some exciting new pieces I am creating that compliment the style and aesthetic of my antiques. I am loving mixing new with old to create more ways of telling your story through jewelry and creating a look that is uniquely your own. Stay tuned to my Instagram or sign up for my email list to be the first to hear about them.”
If you like to know more about @thesacredorder her contact information is below:
Instagram: @thesacredOrder
Pinterest: @thesacredOrder
email: info@thesacredorder
Thank you so much for the interview!
Until next time!!!!
ladycultblog 