I'm fascinated with the anthropological history and cultural significance of jewelry and personal adornment.  Wikipedia has a great one stop shop for getting a snapshot of how it has played a role in our society and in our lives.  History and Significance of Jewelry

Necklaces, rings, bracelets, and my personal favorite, earrings have been used by our civilization for over 100,000 years according to the latest findings of beads made from Nassarius shells.  It is often linked to the level of status that an individual held within their society.

That is often still true today, but luckily, it's also something that we simply get to indulge for our own enjoyment and sense of identity, creativity and confidence.  I love using 14K gold in all of my jewelry pieces, but things like bone, teeth, wood and stone were once used for this kind of personal beautification.

By taking responsiblity for our impact on the environment and our society, we can return to being as non-harmful today, by using recycled gold, fair trade gemstones, conflict free diamonds and cubic zironia, as people were when they used only the natural materials available to them tens of thousands of years ago.

Celebrating our beauty, cherishing our possessions and feeling sparkly and glamorous is actually a pretty timeless pursuit!