Timeless Keepsake

Personal Narrative in Bespoke Jewellery Form

July 2025
18k Gold, Rhodium-plated

The Question

How can personal memory and family identity be translated into a wearable object through bespoke jewellery?

This project began as a commission to celebrate the birth of a family’s twins. Rather than producing a conventional piece of jewellery, the work was developed as a deeply personal keepsake — an object intended to preserve memory, identity, and emotional attachment across generations.

Inspired by Victorian aesthetics, the pendant combines portraiture, symbolism, and handcrafted detailing to transform a family narrative into material form.

18k gold Victorian-style pendant with twin portraits, diamond accents, and engraved details, handcrafted by Mehdi Valiee
Completed handcrafted keepsake pendant, combining portraiture, symbolic detailing, and bespoke goldsmithing.

Searching for Form

The design process started with close dialogue with the client. Through conversation and shared references, the emotional significance of the commission was clarified: the piece needed to hold the presence of the two children, mark a specific moment in time, and function as a lasting personal artifact rather than a decorative object alone.

Digital modelling in Matrix and ZBrush allowed the portrait elements, frame, and symbolic structure to be developed with precision before moving into physical production. Each stage remained open to client feedback, ensuring that the final form reflected both the desired visual identity and the personal meaning of the work.

Digital design process showing 3D portrait modelling in ZBrush and jewellery design in Matrix for a Victorian-style keepsake pendant by Mehdi Valiee
Digital modelling in Matrix and ZBrush — developing portrait and structure before fabrication.
18k gold pendant components during metal finishing, with twin portrait elements and open frame before stone setting, by Mehdi Valiee
Metal finishing before stone setting — preparing the gold structure and portrait elements.

Material Translation

The project moved through a complete jewellery-making workflow: digital design, prototyping, casting, hand finishing, stone setting, laser engraving, and final assembly.

Gold, carefully positioned stones, and engraved text were combined to carry the family narrative into wearable form. The reverse of the pendant was engraved with names and birth date, anchoring the object to a specific personal history. Rather than functioning solely as decoration, the pendant was conceived as a material vessel for memory and identity.

Hand stone setting of diamonds on an 18k gold Victorian-style keepsake pendant during final assembly, by Mehdi Valiee
Stone setting and final assembly — placing diamonds into the gold structure.

Reflection

This project investigated how bespoke jewellery can operate as a site of personal storytelling. Through a digital-to-handcrafted process and continuous dialogue with the client, the work explored the conditions under which a wearable object can hold emotional significance beyond its material value.

The finished pendant does not merely represent the twins; it attempts to carry a family narrative through portraiture, inscription, and crafted form — extending the inquiry into how contemporary jewellery can become a lasting carrier of memory and attachment.

Laser engraving of names and birth details on the reverse of the pendant — anchoring the object to a specific personal history.

Documentation

The project is documented through client consultation records, digital modelling stages, metal finishing, stone setting, laser engraving, and the completed pendant. Together, these stages trace the movement from personal narrative to wearable object.