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One Designer Jewellers Much-loved Source of Motivation
When Orkney jewellery designer Ola Gorie put together her very first brooches showing Orkney’s heritage the pieces were thought to be unusual jewellery as she had been a leader among jewellery designers. Her very first piece of unusual jewellery, the Maeshowe Dragon, featured graffiti carved by Viking tomb raiders.
This brooch is regarded as iconic and has been fashionable for a lot more than half a century, so is no longer unusual jewellery, more like a ‘must have’ classic right now. And many more jewellery designers have followed Ola’s lead and flipped to heritage for motivation.
The Maeshowe Dragon was hand carved by a young Viking on his way home from the Crusades roughly a thousand years ago. It was uncovered within the Maeshowe Neolithic tomb that is 5,000 years old. The dragon rests alongside the finest selection of Norse runic carvings outside Scandinavia.
Orkney has some other instances of graffiti dating from the 18th to the 21st centuries. An archaeologist in Orkney, Antonia Thomas, is currently studying rock art as an element of her PhD looking into ‘Inscription as Social Practice: Orkney’s Rock-Art and Graffiti’. She’s recently been analyzing 19th century graffiti inside Neolithic Unstan tomb in the vicinity of Stromness in Orkney. Monuments bear marks with names and dates coming from visitors, though these are probably not going to inspire unusual jewellery creations from jewellery designers. She has found out that 120 years ago there seemed to be a sizeable fad in heritage tourism with visitors travelling lengthy distances to observe Orkney’s striking geology and archaeology.
The Unstan Tomb was opened in 1884 when there was a vast amount of antiquarian activity around the world. People looked for fossils and prehistoric artefacts and this brought about the tourism boom for the islands.
Amongst the names engraved in the rocks are illustrations from Edinburgh and additionally Keighley in Yorkshire. Sam W Wells left his mark in 1890 and Antonia is hoping to uncover more about this very early traveller. She found a few hints through common census and business directory searches. He was a brass and iron foundry owner in the town of Keighley. She wonders why he travelled to Orkney – for business, enjoyment or to see close friends?
Nowadays, obviously, anybody defacing ancient monuments with their name could well be prosecuted. It would be thought of as an act of vandalism. Four years ago a tourist scrawled a message on the bed in an ancient stone house in Skara Brae, announcing XXX slept here, as well as the date. Police matched up the name to the owner of a vehicle who was visiting and caught up with him just as he boarded the ferry boat returning to the mainland. His marks weren’t left on the Neolithic monument for archaeologists of the future to uncover – he ended up being made to remove them personally!
But the older markings are very important indications that tell us about the people who traveled to the monuments and also raise stimulating questions about social history, say the archaeologists. And the Viking graffiti and also the dragon image are now an important part of the appeal of seeing the Maeshowe chambered cairn, that was excavated in 1861.
Unusual Jewellery Derived From Viking Art forms
These 30 inscriptions located in Maeshowe cairn, ensure it is one of the biggest, and most well-known, collections of runes acknowledged in Europe. The Orkneyinga Saga recounts that more than 800 years back a group of Viking warriors had looked for shelter from a awful snowstorm. As they were waiting in the stone chamber for that storm to pass they etched graffiti into the stone walls. Many of these primitive designs appear in finer form in Viking jewellery pieces.
Much of the writing is boastful. It contains references to skilful rune carving with many names and as well to the natural beauty of a woman named Ingibiorg. Ola Gorie has also designed a jewellery range which bears this Viking lady’s identity. An additional Norse group of soldiers later also left their marks on the walls. However if the Vikings had been looking for treasure, they would definitely have been dissatisfied.
Nevertheless, the legacies of their inscriptions are treasures in by themselves now. Guides to the tomb showcase the exceptional runes by torchlight. And jewellery designers Ola Gorie have created two collections of unusual jewellery inspired by the Norse warriors’ designs and carvings. These ancient Vikings have undoubtedly left their mark.
Making use of Viking graffiti as a way to obtain inspiration definitely has designed some unusual jewellery, however, if your own preference is actually for some thing modern day then perhaps it is best to just click here.
