Discover the Art of Memorial Jewellery with Olive's Legacy
Living North speaks to jewellery maker Karen Watmough about her latest venture, Olive's Legacy, and the art of memorial jewellery
For Karen, who lives with a long-term illness, Olive was a massive help during harder days. ‘She was the most amazing companion,’ Karen says. ‘If I was having really bad days and in a lot of pain, Olive could sense that and she’d be so quiet and peaceful, always touching or lying up against me – she was such a comfort.’
In April of last year Olive was sadly diagnosed with a terminal illness, and passed away in September. Although Karen is grateful to have had the summer with Olive, getting back into work was difficult, and a chance encounter with someone also experiencing grief became the catalyst for Olive’s Legacy and Karen’s journey into memorial jewellery.
‘It was strange timing – in the August (not long before Olive died), this lovely lady came in. She said to me she didn’t know why she came in but we started chatting. She said “I just want to ask if you make memorial jewellery because I lost my daughter six weeks ago to breast cancer.”’
Although not familiar with memorial jewellery, Karen was eager to learn. ‘We hadn’t done memorial jewellery and I’d never really come across it,’ she explains. ‘We had a nice chat and I said it’s something I was very interested in, and for her to go away and have a think about what she might like and I’d think about some designs and what we could offer.’
Unlike how she typically makes and sells her jewellery, Karen knew a slow and gentle approach would be needed for memorial jewellery. ‘For me, that’s what makes memorial jewellery so different. Usually you chat to people and if they like your work, they’ll buy a piece of jewellery and they go away,’ she explains. ‘With memorial jewellery what we find is you actually build a relationship with the customer. I would say nine times out of 10 they don’t order and purchase at our first meeting. We have beautiful leaflets with all the information because it’s a totally different process. One of the things we’re really about is taking time. Have a chat with us, read the leaflet, and when you feel ready you can contact us to place the order.’
Coming up with the designs and technique for her range of memorial jewellery was a challenge, and Karen wanted something that would let her make the pieces as personal as possible. ‘I thought the best thing to do would be to set the ashes in resin – resin has exploded in popularity recently, but jewellery-quality resin is a totally different thing,’ she explains. ‘We use padico for things like ashes, hair, and even whiskers for pets who are still alive.’ Karen can go even further to make pieces unique, and has an upcoming project which involves mixing powdered breast milk with ashes to be set into a bespoke piece of jewellery. ‘I think we’ve got about 12 different resin colours and you can choose a colour that meant a lot to them or to you – the colour of their eyes or birthstone colour for example. We can personalise your piece of jewellery as much as you want.’
The popularity of the memorial jewellery didn’t surprise Karen. ‘It gives people a real tangible memory and it’s something very physical if you’re wearing a ring, necklace or earrings every day. I have Olive’s little paw earrings and her ashes are encased in the paw prints. You have whoever it is that you’ve lost with you every day and that is so comforting.’
As her business continued to grow and she reached more and more people wanting to have personalised pieces created, Olive remained the foundation for Karen. ‘In the midst of my grief from losing Olive and processing it all I came up with the name Olive’s Legacy because I wanted it to be a forever memory of her. When I work in the pod now she’s with me,’ says Karen. ‘Olive’s story helps people. Her story about her life and what an amazing little thing she was helps to make that connection with people. She’s really the catalyst for all of this.’
