If you've been selecting jewelry simply because it's beautiful, get ready for some new criteria. This year, earrings, necklaces and rings can do more than accessorize your look — they can enhance your well-being, too. Think bracelets with healing crystals, pendant necklaces with energy-cleansing stones and earrings with essential oil-diffusing beads.
Healing stones are nothing new. Folklore has it that crystals were used in ancient Egypt to anoint the dead, protect soldiers in battle and promote energy and vitality. Since then, interest in the healing power of crystals has waxed and waned, hitting its heyday in the 1970s and '80s, when New Age spirituality was all the rage, and tanking in the '90s, when it was deemed silly at best.
But today the therapeutic power of stones, and their ability to enhance health more generally, is having a renaissance. Rebranded as "mystic beauty" or "the new stone age," the movement has hit the Twin Cities, and a number of local artisans are crafting pieces that delight both eye and aura. Here are three:
1. Naptime Aromatherapy Co.
My Naptime Jewelry, named because founder Michelle Stangl started designing as a creative outlet while her two young children napped, is a collection of necklaces, bracelets and earrings that diffuse essential oils. Handcrafted with volcanic lava stone in White Bear Lake, the pieces have been dubbed "handmade, wearable well-being." This is the choice for you if you want to look and smell great all day long.
Earrings $32, bracelets $32-$48, necklace $48.
2. Mend Jewelry
Local designer Jordyn DiOrio uses crystals to create pendant necklaces, rosaries and earrings in angular shapes and dramatic colors. The pieces are less about healing, says the 25-year-old designer, than about surrounding yourself with the kind of energy you want in your life. Whether you feel the energetic shift when you wear a Mend piece, you will be hard-pressed to deny its signature beauty.
Blue lapis lazuli earrings $49, aqua chalcedony & opalite pendant, $72.
3. Kaleidoscope Kitty
Christine Burnes has been designing jewelry since she was 10. Today she makes a variety of whimsical creations, the majority of which contain healing stones that she believes balance energy and promote wellness. Earrings and pendant necklaces are her specialty, and they come in a variety of luxurious colors from black to the bright pink of a watermelon. If you like your chakra cleansing with a side of playfulness and delight, this is the ticket.
Charoite earrings $30, copper rutilated quartz necklace, $60, green chrysoprase necklace, $189.
