Have you had a beautifully crafted piece of jewellery created for you that tells a story? Let me tell you one of mine…
I’m the author of The Sphinxing Rabbit trilogy. Whilst all three books discuss serious matters in a colourful yet fantastical manner, the inspiration for them came from my desire to bring my pets back to life in some elegant and artistic way.
The family of my classmate in secondary school used to show Dutch bunnies, which is a fancy breed of rabbit. When I was fifteen, this classmate announced that their prize-winning doe had delivered several baby bunnies and asked us if anyone would like one or more of them as pets. Dutch rabbits are quite even-tempered and make excellent domestic pets. She brought them all to school one day to show us. She placed one in the palm of her hand to show me. I remember it to this day – she fit in the palm of her hand (!) and she was and still is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life. She was perfect – a black-and-white Dutch dwarf.
I selected a male rabbit too so they keep each other company while the budgie sings. A very cute part of a bunny is the area around the nose and mouth. This is a most delicate and splendid pink. A long story short, I took this female and the male home to meet the budgie. They have all passed, but I have brought them back to life through my books.
I was born in the Lunar Year of the Rabbit, which is the fourth animal in the procession of the twelve animal signs in the Eastern zodiacal system. The celebration of this most recently was from 22 January, 2023 – 9 February, 2024. As it was a Rabbit year last year, my birthday is in November and my books were getting prepared for their publication, I asked Alexandra and her colleagues about creating ring for all these special things.
I was closest to the female rabbit, which is why she is the predominant character in my trilogy. Moreover, I have a lot of jewellery in rose gold and love various shades of pink. In the Augustine Jewels bespoke process, I was shown a variety of pink gemstones upon which I was attracted most to a subtly sparkling, dainty pink, cushion cut morganite that happens to just about match the size off my bunny’s twinkling nose. It was placed in a rose gold setting, and now when I wear this ring, it’s as if my bunny is with me once again.
Down the rabbit hole, my books are somewhat children’s books for adults and resemble literary works like Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Le Petit Prince and George Orwell’s Animal Farm. If you know your art history, you can spot allusions to famous works of art by Jacques Louis David, Vincent Van Gogh, Thomas Gainsborough, and Joseph Wright of Derby. If you love medieval art, my second book makes many references to a famous illuminated manuscript held at the Musee Conde in the Chateau de Chantilly.
While all three books contain masonic symbols and ideas, the third book has the most masonic content detailed in this article. Throughout my trilogy there are also overt and hidden gems, carrots and carats as well as mention of the blockchain application for tracking diamonds, which is a solution to transparency in the diamond industry. If you have never had a bespoke piece of jewellery made, I highly
recommend this addition to your collection. It’s a very personal process that results in an object of great beauty unique to you. There can be so much ugliness in the world so I always try to support people who make the world a more beautiful place, especially from memories.
Thank you, Alexandra!
-Pauline Chakmakjian, Author of The Sphinxing Rabbit Trilogy