The Olive Branch Story

I met Ellen through the Internet. She contacted me to order a set of wedding rings.
Together we reviewed an entire album of wedding ring possibilities - no less than 500 designs. Personally, I liked many of them. For example, there was a very original design where one thick ring was split into two thinner rings cut apart in a wavering line, so that His and Hers fit together and completed each other.

The bride didn't like any of them. In the above design, she saw it as the line of a life that was severed, broken, gone wrong. He and She had separated. How could I argue with someone else's perception?
By the way, it's easy to invent when you don't feel limited by a trivial thing called practical use. In the album there was a finger supporting a wedding ring that was a miniature paper and silver house, complete with a door that opened and shut. Very impressive. It belonged in a museum.

 Ellen eventually expressed what she wanted for herself

in very specific terms. It needed to be a ringlet in a free-style design, delicate and no more than five millimeters wide. Made from pink gold, like her grandmother's ring. With white gold insets. And there should be some message in the design.
The easy way to incorporate a message is to literally spell it out, with letters engraved on the surface. But that's not very original. And in works of art, I always prefer a visual hint over a direct text.
But what could I fit on a band five millimeters wide!? What visual message would work there? I thought – a little branch, made as an incrustation, white gold on pink gold.
A branch. What kind of branch? Maybe an Oriental cherry? (Japanese Cherry, or Sacura.) But the Oriental cherry is not recognizable unless it's blossoming, and I couldn't develop such a detailed design on 5 mm. Besides, what message would a Japanese tree communicate to an Israeli bride?
Maybe some kind of Israeli tree? Inspiration! An Olive Branch, the universal symbol of peace! Peace is the perfect message for starting a new family. And who is better at keeping and restoring peace in the home than the wife and mother?
Within minutes, Ellen agreed. "It's perfect!"
The Olive Branch design ring had a promising future. After all, it made peace between us.



Online advantage

Yesterday I spoke with the owner of an art boutique in Zichron Yakov. She has a very beautiful shop with jewelry, ceramics, art objects and pictures. I and my colleagues from my Internet jewelry shop have worked in collaboration with her for many years.

She told me that most of her inventory these days is cheap jewelry and art items stamped, "Made in China." Individual works by artists are too expensive to sell in a retail shop. The taxes are so high that the final price must be up to three times that of the original artist's price, and her customers are reluctant to pay it.

At first I felt sad. But then I thought: maybe that's good news for my own business! There are certainly customers – both in Israel and abroad – who are looking for something special, unique, "out of the box" of mass produced artwork. And if they can't find it in a real shop, they will come sooner to a virtual shop. I have fewer expenses, so I can set affordable prices even for very special original pieces.
http://www.artleah.com/