As an antique jewelry collector and dealer, Ashley Zhang is always looking to the past for inspiration for her designs. This summer, Ashley unfortunately lost her father. While dealing with the grief and pain that comes with losing one’s parent, she stumbled upon a gorgeous Victorian era mourning piece. This piece was so beautiful that it brought the feeling of joy rather than sadness. This served as one of her inspirations for this new collection.

     Mourning jewelry has been popular for centuries. During the Georgian period (circa 1714-1830) bands and rings with black and white enamel were adorned with names and dates of loved ones. These cherished rings are now considered highly collectible. During the Victorian Era, Queen Victoria made mourning jewelry popular again when she lost the love of her life, Prince Albert. These Victorian era pieces were softer and more feminine than past mourning jewelry designs often adorned with urns, weeping willows, and floral motifs.

With this collection, Ashley wanted to mix the classic mourning styles with new designs. These pieces are designed to be easily worn every day and mixed with a customer’s current jewelry collection, and can be hand engraved to personalize. This collection features the motifs of the urn, willow trees, and leaves, in addition to lily of the valley flowers, which symbolize a ladder to heaven, or the return to happiness.