I come back to the colour blue over and over again. From the palest, ethereal aquamarines to the deepest, velvety royal blue sapphires, and every shade in between, I am constantly drawn to it, and it is a colour that speaks to me more than any other.
Perhaps part of blue’s magic lies in its versatility: it can be soft and romantic, bold and powerful, or serene and reflective. Artists have long been captivated by this transformative quality. Wassily Kandinsky saw blue as a spiritual colour, the deeper the shade, the greater its sense of purity. Yves Klein was so mesmerised by it that he created his own iconic pigment, International Klein Blue, to express the boundlessness of the universe. He believed International Klein Blue, a deeply saturated ultramarine blue, could evoke a feeling of the sublime, beyond the tangible and visible world.
Blue is the colour of the sea and the sky and that vastness represents the heavens and deepest depths of our planet. It feels infinite and spiritual and carries with it a deep sense of calm, almost meditative in its effect on the soul. Science tells us that blue can slow the heart rate, lower stress, and lift our mood. But long before studies confirmed it, ancient civilisations knew blue was special. In medieval times, blue sapphires were believed to protect their wearer from envy and harm. In Ancient Egypt, blue was the colour of the heavens and divine protection.
Pablo Picasso’s “Blue Period” channelled grief into hauntingly beautiful works, while Joan Miró and Claude Monet used blue to evoke dreamlike worlds and shifting light.
Lapis lazuli is one of history’s most treasured blue gemstones and has been mined since antiquity in Afghanistan, its intense blue hue once graced the tombs of pharaohs and was ground into pigment for Renaissance masterpieces.
For me, blue in jewellery is endlessly inspiring. It can be the shimmering, oceanic depths of a sapphire, the watery transparency of aquamarine, or the mysterious, spiritual tones of Lapis Lazuli. Whatever the shade, it feels like wearing a piece of the sky or sea and carrying that sense of calm and beauty wherever you go.
