THE SOLUNA JOURNAL

‘The Inca Empire’s fascinating beliefs inspires our Peruvian jewellery collection which is brought to life with a modern London design edge’

Peruvian jewellery does a lot more than add a pretty finishing touch to your outfit. It can transform the way you look and the way you feel. Each piece of jewellery has a tale to tell – a unique symbolisation or a story from the past. We carry this story with us; we display the beauty of it, we share the tale with our friends and we wear the symbols via the aura we give off. Of course the same can be said with numerous fine jewellery collections, yet
when you explore Peru’s rich and diverse heritage, and take into account their reputation for producing some of the finest crafts in the world, you discover a new depth of beauty within culture-inspired handmade jewellery.

Peru’s colourful history with crafts and precious metals

Before providing an insight into the beautiful marriage of Peruvian inspiration and contemporary jewellery we see today, it’s imperative to reveal a little bit more about Peru’s long association with precious metals and intricate crafts, so you can get a good idea of where these unique designs stem from. Peruvian craftwork – the creativity, the colour and the diversity – has shaped Peru’s identity. The oldest example of goldsmithery can be dated back to approximately 1000 BC, during Chavin civilisation. It wasn’t long after that until the art of textiles and ceramics were mastered, during the Mochica culture.

Yet, there is no denying that most people will associate Peruvian jewellery with the 13th century Inca Empire, Peru’s Golden Age. The Inca Empire is well-known for remarkable architecture, building some of the wonders of the world, as well as advanced textiles and metallurgy. Their worship of the sun and love of gold are two of the key factors that have shaped our Soluna jewellery collections, with ‘sol’ indeed representing the sun and ‘luna’ meaning moon – not only a direct representation of gold and silver jewellery, but representing a deep spiritual meaning in Ancient Peruvian societies. They regarded the moon as a mother, who was both sister and wife to the sun. Thus, whilst the sun was worshipped and gold was the Incas’ favoured metal, the moon/silver plays a beautifully
subtle and important role in Peruvian-inspired fine jewellery.

Unique inspirations: Inti, the Sun God

The Sun God, Inti, was worshipped by Incas. They ranked it higher than the Earth Mother and other major gods. They believed it had power over all food, as it was by the sun’s power that animals thrived and crops grew. Their worship of the sun directly relates to their love of gold, as the malleability, sheen and colour made it tantamount to solid sun-droplets. Each temple to the Sun God – and there were many – were laced in gold. The emperor and the royal family would wear the finest gold, not only to display their imperial power and to distinguish themselves from common people, but also as a celebration of the sun.

This only scratches the surface of the Incas’ beliefs. Their fascinating culture has played a role in shaping the Soluna jewellery we offer you, as have many other Peruvian civilisations. From the iconic Lama animal to the
mysterious Nazca lines (which you’ll discover more about in later blog posts), each piece of handmade jewellery is created with unique inspiration from an element of Peruvian culture.

Soluna Jewellery: The magic of Inca traditions combined with modern London designs

Exquisite gold and silver metal is used throughout our entire collection, acknowledging the role it played in Inca culture, and of course recognising the value of such precious metal in jewellery design today. We also use the Sun and the Moon directly throughout our work, as you can see above in one of our newest collections; ‘The Sun’, yet
also as inspiration, through colour, energy and the design of our pieces. We then tie this in with a modern edge to create a contemporary jewellery collection like no other – unique yet highly relevant in today’s market. Carrying beauty not only in the way the pieces look, but the meaning of them as well. These pieces are full of positive symbolisation, achieving the transformation you want to feel when you put on a piece of fine jewellery, making you
feel empowered.