Colour is the fruit of life

So wrote the early 20th century French poet, Guillaume Apollinaire. Perhaps he was referring to the range of shades used by his artist friends, but colour does abound in the natural world. Looking into our gardens we see flowers of every hue imaginable: fiery reds and hot oranges, cheery yellows, bright clear blues, shades of purple and mauve, pink and lavender. Grass is green, but not all grass is the same green. It varies from emerald swards to sage-like grey-green or blue-green spikes. 

Nature has long been a source of inspiration for jewellery designers. As children we start by threading daisies into chains. Later we might string cleaned and dried melon seeds onto a cord. Such adornment goes way back into the earliest times of human life: the earliest-known beads date from more than 100,000 years ago and were small marine shells coloured with red ochre, a natural clay pigment containing iron oxide which gives its characteristic rusty shade. Early clay beads were formed by hand and also coloured with natural pigments, then left in the fire to harden before being threaded onto a leather thong. Our ancestors originally used the colours found in nature, and later copied natural forms by carving beads into floral shapes.

Harry Potter fans will be familiar with the radish earrings of the character Luna Lovegood, but beads are made in an amazing range of natural shapes and colours. Roses and pansies have an enduring popularity as their colours are well-suited to being used for jewellery such as necklaces and earrings. In the natural world leaves can be found in shades from green through golds and tans to maroons and purples, and jewellery makers have realised how useful these can be to offset other colours in designing their pieces.