Repub­li­can coin circa 225–212, Kun­sthis­torisches Museum, Wein

Depict­ing two heads, one look­ing for­ward and the other back­ward, the motif on this ancient Roman coin rep­re­sents the god of gates, doors and begin­nings; he is known as Janus. The first day of the new year is ded­i­cated to him. A Janus coin was given on the first day of the year: a gift of hope for pros­per­ity. This is my wish for all of you, so here is a coin to start 2012 bright. There is so much to look for­ward to in the com­ing days, not to men­tion the approach­ing weeks with the Golden Globes and the Acad­emy Awards. I hope to have lots of break­ing news, maybe even a bit of my own.

Look­ing back to move for­ward, or design­ing jew­elry that is cur­rent while being time-honored, has been a con­stant theme through­out the ages. The sale of the French Crown jew­els in the late nine­teenth cen­tury stirred a trend for elab­o­rate eighteenth-century inspired jew­elry that sum­moned the grandeur and opu­lence of the Louis’ courts. Even in paste, these orna­ments were glam­orous. Those who could not afford dia­monds could still own some­thing that was con­tem­po­rary yet also cast as neck­laces, ear­rings or brooches once worn by royalty.

What is more com­mon today are mar­riages between rem­nants of old pieces and new ele­ments: ring set­tings, old-cut gem­stones, or won­der­ful details that have been intri­cately worked. In the 1970s and ‘80s, Bul­gari took ancient Greek and Roman coins and mounted them in set­tings linked together with heavy gold chains. Sim­ple in design, the look became iconic; these neck­laces can fetch nearly five fig­ures at auc­tion. Why do we still care about the old so much so that we want to incor­po­rate it into the new, into our wardrobes, and even our every­day lives? Where we come from, how far we have trav­eled in time is an inte­gral part of our cul­tural thinking.

There is a beauty and sym­me­try to the new year and our way of cel­e­brat­ing it. This isn’t strictly lin­ear in per­spec­tive. Our inner clocks are set to a more fluid way of under­stand­ing time, which is why we waf­fle between vin­tage, vintage-inspired and vintage-infused designs. Moder­nity is mea­sured by inches from our past. An antique is tech­ni­cally defined as being one hun­dred years old. The delin­eation between jew­elry that is deemed estate rather than antique can be the dif­fer­ence of a year. Not a ter­ri­bly wide gap in time and one that gives pause to con­sider how we value age against other, often more impor­tant con­sid­er­a­tions, such as qual­ity and crafts­man­ship. As we begin 2012, with color in jew­elry trend­ing for spring, I’m on the look­out for great, well crafted pieces, vin­tage with punch or con­tem­po­rary with a lin­ger­ing shelf life, either way I’m keep­ing my focus fluid: past to present, present to future. Happy New Year everyone!

Bul­gari coin neck­lace circa 1970