Jewelry as everything but pretty
I grew up in a home where jewelry wasn’t just business — it was language. My parents ran a successful designer jewelry brand, and our world was full of creativity, craftsmanship, and beauty.
Naturally, my mother gave me jewelry. Gold and silver pieces — delicate, beautiful, and heavy with intention. She’d tell me to keep them close to my heart forever. And I’d ask, wide-eyed and naive, “But why would I ever take them off?” I didn’t get it then — not really.
Because to me, they were just beautiful things. I didn’t yet understand what she was actually giving me: not just adornment, but security. History.
Over time, I’ve learned what jewelry means — what it has always meant when passed from mother to daughter.
Now, with my own brand — CARINA HARDY — I carry what I’ve learned into the artisan jewelry I make.
The Original Exit Strategy
Historically, women had almost nothing to call their own. Land, homes, wages — signed over to fathers, husbands, brothers. Bank accounts didn’t exist, and if they did, women were prohibited from having one.
So we got smart. We wore our worth.
In 1750s India, mothers married off their daughters with gold — not for the ceremony, but as a survival tool. When everything else failed, it was the weight of what clinked on their wrists that kept them alive.
In the Ottoman Empire, women stitched coins into their clothing, hiding their worth from a world that wanted to take it.
During WWII, jewelry wasn’t just for decoration; it became a lifeline, buying fake papers, smuggling women across borders, and securing second chances.
Why did no one see jewelry — gleaming and sharp — as a weapon, a means of escape? Perhaps because women were never seen as clever enough. Jewelry was dismissed as too ‘feminine,’ too trivial to matter. But to women, it was power — the only thing they could hold onto. No matter how meagre, they could walk away with it.
We Get It From Our Mamas!
I’d be lying if I said this history didn’t influence the work we do at CARINA HARDY. It does, profoundly.
The women who came before us weren’t quiet, and they weren’t small. Their strength, their style, their bold refusal to be anything less than whole — that’s stitched into every piece we make. Our jewelry isn’t just beautiful; it’s deliberate. Built to be worn now, and passed on later — with purpose.
Our pieces are designed and handcrafted in Bali, where patience is part of the process. We live a practice rooted in care and a love for fine jewelry craftsmanship.
In Balinese culture, women are quietly powerful, central to ceremony, community, and everyday life. That reverence lives in our work — crafted by hand with spirit.
We may have good taste, but we’re not dictators of style. Jewelry shouldn’t command — it should collaborate. The best pieces shift with you, shape to you, become yours. That’s where the magic is.
Our 18K Woman of Willendorf pendant is made to be played with — take her for a spin any time you like. Double-wrap the chain if you want her sitting higher. Flip it around. Layer it. Live in it. Love in it. Pass it on when you’re ready.
This is what sustainable fine jewelry looks like — made with intention, worn with pride, passed on with love.
Every Mother Was Once a Girl, and Still Is
This Mother’s Day, we’re toasting the women who did far more than raise us— they armed us. They knew exactly what they were doing when they passed down jewelry — or slipped us sharp truths between sips of tea in sun-drenched kitchens, while the men cracked jokes in the next room.
You will forever be able to feel them in the weight of what they give you. In the warmth of the gold. In the decisive snap of a clasp. And if you listen closely — you can still hear the girl they used to be. The one who never really left.
That spirit runs through every CARINA HARDY design. Jewelry with history. With heart. And with skin in the game. Made not just by a fine jewelry designer, but by those who remember what it means to be given something that matters.