NAACP is an interracial American organization created to work for the abolition of segregation and discrimination in housing, education, employment, voting, and transportation; to oppose racism; and to ensure African Americans their constitutional rights.
Americans are being called to recognize and end racial inequity and discrimination in our country.
It’s a task that requires participation from all but attention particularly paid to the historically repressed few whose voices have been muffled and ignored.
To highlight black jewelry designers for the sake of their race would, in this editor’s opinion, feel like missing the point, doling out a sort of praise couched by obligation at best or, at worst, a self-serving agenda to prove my own morality.
After all, the thousands protesting now aren’t asking for special treatment for black people; they’re asking for regular and just treatment.
One voice that feels particularly resonant in this moment is that of a company donating 100 percent of proceeds from this “Piece of the Week” jewel to the NAACP.
Lauren Harwell Godfrey is the creative force behind Harwell Godfrey. As a black woman in an overwhelmingly white pool of American jewelry design contemporaries, her voice and actions take on a significant importance in the current climate.
However, it’s important to emphasize, any recognition she receives is predicated on the basis of her extraordinary talent.
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Harwell Godfrey has become one of the most exciting fine jewelry brands to watch in the past couple of years, demonstrating an aptitude for joyful color and bold geometric motifs.
She first created this pendant in malachite to raise money for World Central Kitchen’s mission to feed the food insecure during COVID-19.
At the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund event, jewelry designer Lauren Harwell Godfrey celebrated for being selected as a finalist. The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund provides financial support to work that advances creativity in fashion and design. This evening, Godfrey unveiled her newest Charity Heart pendant from her eponymous jewelry brand Harwell Godfrey, which supports Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in America. 18 karat gold and set with a sustainably and ethically sourced De Beers Code of Origin diamond at its center, the pendant features a hand-engraved design around the stone to suggest an echo of gunfire.
“Gun safety is a critical issue in America and firearms are now the leading cause of death for children in this country,” says the designer. “As a mother and an American citizen, I feel compelled to do what I can to help fight the gun lobby and be a part of this important fight, and that’s why I created this special diamond pendant as the sixth initiative in my Charity Heart Series to support the work of Everytown for Gun Safety.”
Harwell Godfrey launched her Charity Heart series in 2020, donating 100% of proceeds to personally significant nonprofit organizations, including NAACP, Futures Without Violence, Human Rights Campaign, Every Mother Counts and World Central Kitchen. The first pendant, created in support of World Central Kitchen at the onset of COVID-19, was envisioned as a healing talisman. As Godfrey sketched the design, she realized that her signature triangle motif placed over the heart in repetition created what looks like a broken heart that has been put back together. Each heart has a bail that opens and can clip onto any of the brand’s signature Foundation chains. The bail has two bars creating an equal symbol as a sign of the unity we can achieve when we help each other.
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Sources: Natural Diamond, National Jeweler
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