The Black Diamond Swan Ring & The Many Shades Of Love
A lot of my personal memories went into this ring... I grew up in Moscow, in a family deeply immersed in the arts. I was fed a strict diet of concentrated culture and kept on a rigorous regimen of art shows, theatre, concerts, museums, and, of course, ballet. I was painfully in love with ballet, so my mother indulged my passion and took me to every production at the Bolshoi Theatre. This was by far my favorite place to go: a majestic and ornate white, gold and red universe, where ethereal beauties led the enchanted life bathed in stage lights as fur-clad ladies drank champagne and ate caviar sandwiches at intermission. While those ladies enjoyed their sumptuous delicacies, I held my own party- swallowing an ungodly amount of a sublime chocolate called “Inspiration”while staring at its package : Odile and Odette, intertwined, white body against black , within the circle of the water.
I was very much taken by Swan Lake, in all its dramatic beauty and complexity. Each time I saw it, I sensed something left unsaid in the story, and in the depths of my heart, I hoped for a different ending. Then I grew up. I started to think less and less about this feathery drama, and the unresolved question it stirred in me began to fade from memory. That is, until one day, when my husband, in search of an idea for what to give me on our wedding anniversary, asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted. My answer was: “A ring, of course!”
He was surprised. “YOU want me to BUY you a ring?!” “No, no - I will make it myself, of course,” I answered, “And you will sponsor my work!”
And so he did.
When I started to think about which symbols represented love for me, the first thing that came into my mind was a swan. But it was black.
It suddenly all made sense. This ring is about the many faces of love. Often, as in the story of Swan Lake, we fall in love with the White Swan. Suddenly the Black Swan appears and replaces the person we first fell in love with. The White Swan will return again, but now we know: the Black Swan is behind the curtain, always waiting for its moment. We learn to understand, accept and live with the different aspects of our beloved and what they awake in us…. as our own Black Swan meets its dramatic twin. This is the moment when “in love “ transforms into TRUE love.
This ring is for those who are brave enough to honor the Black Swan. Those who know that light and shadow co-exist in each of us - two forever battling halves of every human heart.
The design is set in either 18K gold or .925 Sterling Silver, and it features what I consider to be the king of stones - black diamonds - adorning the swan’s body, with a central black diamond in the golden cast as its heart, a tiny ruby for the eye, and complementary diamonds or rubies along the sides. The word “Love” is engraved inside.
