I am getting ready to list designs from my newest collection for Simply Mad Jewelry and wanted to give a little background about where the inspiration came from. I hope you like it and I hope you get an opportunity to visti Spinalonga one day, if you haven't already done so!
This collection was inspired by a
tiny and deserted Greek island, called Spinalonga. Spinalonga is located off the northeast coast of Elounda, a charming fishermen’s village in Crete (Greece). The intriguing and unoccupied island has
an ancient history, but it is the period between 1903 and 1957 which has fascinated me since the first time I saw the island. From 1903 until 1957 the island served as a leper colony and
it went on to be the last leper colony in Europe.
I have had the opportunity to visit
Elounda a few times and every time I go, admiring Spinalonga from the distance
is one of my favorite things to do.
I am transported to that period when lepers roamed the streets, sick but
happy to have a community in which they were accepted, love, supported and a
kind of normalcy was possible. A
lot of the images that fill my mind come from a book I read after seeing the
island for the first time – “The Island” by Victoria Hislop. The book relates the story of a family
whose mother is sent to Spinalonga after discovering she had contracted
leprosy. Hislop’s descriptive
scenes of daily life in leprosy-ridden Spinalonga are what play in my head
every time I think of the intriguing island.
I hope you will connect with some pieces from this collection that will make you go on a journey across the Aegean Sea hoping from one Greek Isle to the next including a visit to Spinalonga.
Here is a preview from the collection...
Shop Simply Mad Jewelry here
wear it & be happy!
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