'The Pin' was originally designed for a friend going through IVF — based on a symbol that has throughout history represented life and fertility.
At the time, my jewellery training was focused on brooches, which turned out to be a blessing. Unlike other jewellery, it could be attached to her hospital gown during procedures when everything else had to be removed. A reminder that someone was thinking of her — a small symbol of shared hope.
What I never expected was that, after her own experience, she’d begin lending it to other women - each heading into appointments and surgeries of their own. Often it travelled with a handwritten note, a quiet gesture of comfort, connection and encouragement.
This updated version, handmade in sterling silver, can be worn as a pendant on a chain or on its pin, allowing it to stay close during procedures.
I'm proud of 'The Pin' and the way it's been used to share love & hope. This piece was born from that story.
Prudence x
The Pin began during my training to become a jeweller - a brief to make a brooch, something I quietly thought no one really wore anymore. Looking for meaning in it, I researched symbols of life and fertility and found the Egyptian ankh. I made it, and gave it to a close friend during her fertility treatment, with no expectation.
What I hadn't foreseen was how it would be worn. During procedures, when rings and other jewellery had to be removed, the pin could often stay — fastened to her hospital gown, kept close when everything else couldn't be.
She has since had her son, and in the years since has passed the pin from woman to woman — many of them strangers, each enclosing a handwritten note for someone facing the same thing. In time, they simply began asking for "the pin."
She asked me for a long while to make these for others. This is that piece, designed now to be worn first as a pendant, then transferred onto its procedure pin whenever it's needed. What began as a quiet gesture, when words and gifts didn't feel like enough, has become this.
Love, Prudence x
