Creativity Comes in the Morning

This morning, I return to these things: bacon, eggs, smoky coffee. The ting of fork on plate. The warming mid-morning light.

I’m sitting by myself to soak up the quiet in the café, but two tables over, Carol beams. She exudes a calm joy that I need this morning. A jewelry designer, she proudly shows me three pieces she created herself and is wearing to breakfast.

The design for her trademark “spinner ring” is clean and fresh—a wide, curved band that has been subtly textured to remind of birchbark. The “spinner” component comes from two thin bands that twirl around the larger band. After looking at this ring for just a moment, I can tell Carol knows what she’s doing. The piece is both elegantly simple and innovative, and it interacts with the movement of her hands.

She is glad to talk about the other pieces she’s wearing as well—a necklace hammered from a trio of metals and bound by rivets, a design Carol is particularly proud of. It’s begun to take on a beautiful patina. Her earrings are metal as well, hammered so they catch the light.

Carol describes her creative style as “rough organic” and says she rarely forms anything dainty or delicate. Her husband calls her a tomboy and she laughs appreciatively.

Our conversation happily hums along. As Carol tells me about the physical processes she’s learned in order to make such intriguing jewelry—enameling, soldering, and hammering metals—I wonder what it would feel like to take a piece of hard earth and tangibly bend it to creative vision.

Would it be even more satisfying than taming these flittering words?