Striking the Right Note

1: Theresa Kwong

Since Sarah has long had an interest in jewelry, I decided to create a statement bracelet. It’s an accessory that she could easily wear with her active lifestyle—whether working at the office during the day, attending cultural events in the evening, or museum hopping on the weekend.

Given that Sarah is launching her law career with an NGO focused on ending human rights abuses in Africa, and that she has always been interested in various African cultures, I wanted to create a design based on that interest. During a search for inspiration, I happened upon the story of Ananse, which intrigued me. A well-known part of West African folktales, Ananse is a spider that stands for wisdom, creativity, and the complexities of life. Ananse is often graphically portrayed as a center wheel with radiating spokes, which I loosely based my design on. With Sarah’s sense of fairness, I felt she would appreciate a design that strikes a balance without being symmet...