We at Common Era do nothing without intention.

Every curved line, each carefully placed stone, the carefully wrought edges, the lyrical prose. Every last detail has been turned over and examined to create beauty that, once, only lived in a dream.

Early this month, we introduced Ad Astra as the latest CE collection. Within it, you’ll find delicate rainbows awash with intention, nestled in solid gold that will last longer than a lifetime. Ad Astra pieces are living heirlooms that hold within them dreams of reaching the stars, to be passed down to those who will take up your mantle and continue your story.

We are some of the most recent in a long line of makers who breathed significance into their work. The Victorians, repressed as they were, became masters of binding meaning to everything they could manage. A language of flowers became the way of speaking that which cannot be spoken. A white rose was not just a lovely gift, it was a proclamation of love, of innocence, of romance.

Similarly, a language of fans developed. A lady might have snapped her fan shut to tell a suitor that she was uninterested, but too polite to turn him down. She may have held it open, backwards, and given a certain look to the one she wants to follow her out, away from prying eyes. And a touch to the lips may mean she’d like to talk, or a kiss.

It comes as little surprise, then, that love notes were hidden away in jewelry. An acrostic ring is one that spells out a message with the first letter of each stone. Popular was the “dearest” written with stones, e.g.:

Diamond

Emerald

Amethyst

Ruby

Emerald

Sapphire

Topaz

At Common Era, we delve into history for inspiration, but with all art, ideas must pass through us first. What carries us forward is progression, new traditions, and a deep yearning for a brighter future. Hence, Ad Astra, to the stars.

Amethyst

Diamond

Aquamarine

Sapphire

Tsavorite

Ruby

Amethyst

In his Aeneid, Virgil first wrote the phrase sic itur ad astra, “thus one journeys to the stars,” an idea he returns to again and again. The stars seen by the poet are much the same as we see today; in this turn of phrase, he offers his hand to us, that we may seek to reach the stars together.