Mother's Day Inspiration: How One Jewelry Designer Keeps Families Together

Finding a thoughtful gift to give for Mother's Day can be difficult. Chances are, you've already made her a few of your own hand-crafted items in the past. So what options are you really left with to get her something special?

If your mom is like mine, she probably loves jewelry. The only problem is that picking out a piece that will be meaningful to her means doing a lot of research. Well in honor of Mother's Day, (which is on May 10th this year if you haven't started planning for it yet!) I am going to save you from wasting your time searching for a gift. Let me tell you the story behind one of my favorite collections and the effect it has on the people who make it: The Classic Chain Collection by John Hardy.

Continue reading to learn more about this iconic design and how it has been bringing families together since its creation.

Mother and child at John Hardy workshop

One of the fastest growing fashion jewelry brands in the world, John Hardy, has been winning over jewelry lovers with their beautiful pieces and heart warming story. The company was started in 1970 when Canadian artist, John Hardy, visited Bali Indonesia and fell so in love with the island's culture that he decided to stay.

He found inspiration in the handmade jewelry that the Balinese artists created and the traditional techniques that they used to create it. He realized that he had an opportunity to share this art with the world and also provide a better life for the people of the island. He dedicated the rest of his career building a community for artists to live and work in unison.

Today, the John Hardy brand is recognized worldwide, and their Bali-based workshop has become a creative oasis for jewelry fans to visit during their travels. At the workshop, you can spend a day as a guest in the creative community and meet the people who make it all possible.

Classic Chain Collection

The Classic Chain Collection contains pieces made from silver or gold chain links which are carefully bent and intertwined. The most famous of these pieces, the classic chain bracelet, has become an iconic piece and a flagship product for the company.

Making this classic chain is a labor-intensive process that requires countless hours of repetitive work. Although the process is relatively easy to learn, there is no way to avoid the hard work that it requires. It takes workers an average of 4 hours to make one inch of this chain, which amounts to around 30 hours of work for every 7.5 inch classic chain bracelet Hardy creates.

The bracelets beauty has made it a popular sell, but in my opinion, it's the story behind how the bracelet is made that makes this a truly remarkable piece.

Making fine jewelry was always the main goal of John Hardy's operation, but he also had the dream of creating a community for his workers. He knew that to do this, he would need to get locals involved in every step of the jewelry creation process.

Creating the classic chain is a 10 step process, and as I stated earlier, most of the steps are incredibly labor intensive. Bending the links and weaving them into a chain are two of these steps that take a lot of work, but anyone can do the work with proper training. Hardy recognized this as a unique opportunity to give people jobs that could be done on their own hours. He decided that this was a job best suited for mothers who needed a flexible schedule so they could spend time raising their children. In some cases, workers could even take silver loops home and weave the chain bracelets while watching over their kids.

Any mother can agree that having flexibility is essential in a job when they have young children. For a mother of young children, this job can be the difference between being able to work and having to give up your job to raise your kids.

This Mother's Day, show your mom you care by giving her a piece from The Classic Chain Collection. I speak from experience when I say she will be charmed by its beauty and fall in love with the story.