For perhaps, tens of thousands of years, human beings have walked the earth, seeking to discover and distill the innate order for the natural world, and its place in the cosmos, through shapes, patterns, designs and figures. The inspiring beauty and simplicity found though nature is well suited for designs that inspire our collection men’s and women’s designer wedding rings. A wedding ring innately has resonance with symbolic traditions, starting with its circular shape, which represents wholeness and unity.
Designer rings, particularly those with the ancient motifs that reflect cultural traditions, such as Celtic wedding rings, reinforce and preserve spiritual and religious connections in a variety of ways. They are exchanged as public signs of ceremonial commitments such as engagement or marriage, and are reminders of key aspects of some spiritual beliefs. Rings can be seen as shamanic totems enhanced by the incorporation of power-bearing images. The materials used in the creation of the ring, whether Fairtrade Gold or silver, engraved or plain, and the stones themselves all have significance and resonance.
What follows is a brief catalogue of some curving symbols and complex patterns involved in the creation of rings as well as the sacred geometry of those patterns.
A lemniscate is basically a “figure 8” oriented horizontally, a motif shown in our Love Knot wedding ring. It is a symbol of eternity. Its introduction into mathematics and European culture started with the formal description by Jacob Bernoulli in 1694. Yet, the figure eight is a basic shape in ancient European tribal and Tibetan art, as well as several other cultures. It suggests the joining of two halves, and in fact in ancient cultures the symbol was sometimes shown as the touching of two perfect circles. The shape contains its own reflection, and this symmetry is a central feature of some of the curves of sacred geometry.
Waves and arcs appear throughout nature, in the oceans, rivers and clouds. Our Wind and Waves series captures this motif. Mathematically, waves and arcs are closely related to the circle. Waves are repeated arcs that are portions of circles, which often form edge designs, while waves with their peaks and troughs move singly or intertwine creating a feeling of the flow of energy in harmonious balance. A waveform, however, is distinct from closed curves like the lemniscates or circle, appears to move forward as it completes its regular cycle.
Spirals are found throughout the world, from the temples in India to the petroglyphs in the American Southwest. Our Rolling Moon wedding ring series is an example of a wedding ring design with a spiral. The spiral occurs frequently in nature, from the regular spacing of spine clusters on cacti to the structure of seashells. Spirals represent, fundamentally, expansion and contraction, the exhale and the inhale. These coiling shapes capture a sense of the ordered evolution of experience that originates from a center but unfolds dynamically. Spiral forms are related to perfect circles and waves, in that they are generated from a center, as circles are, but they arc regularly.
Consider where triangles are found in nature: the face of a predator, tips of leaves, wing features… Triangles represent focused direction and intention, heading in a particular direction. Triangles in wedding rings can represent creative energy launching forth to create movement and shift energy. This dynamic interplay is shown on our Arches wedding and engagement rings.
Only Fairtrade Gold Jeweler in the USA since 2015
Santa Fe, NM Green Business of the Year
Catalyzing the Ethical Jewelry Movement
Winner of MJSA Responsibly Sourced Design Challenge
Founder of First-Ever Ethical Jewelry Blog
Collaborators of USAID Zahabu Safi (Clean Gold) Project