'A Heart of Gold' - Tunbridge Wells Jewellery Collaboration
“Women are twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease, the main cause of a heart attack, than of breast cancer in the UK”
Local creatives Kerrie (founder of the Gold Hearted Club) and Emma (jeweller behind the Narratorium) have launched a heart-led creative collaboration that not only raises awareness of this statistic, but also encourages women to be risk aware and take better care of their hearts.
The project also hopes to raise over £5000 for the British Heart Foundation, which will not only help the charity fund vital research but continue its fight against heart disease.
The idea and goal behind the collaboration was to design a collection of jewellery that would spark a conversation and raise awareness of heart disease in women, as well as raise vital funds for charity.
The motivation behind this idea was not only driven by Kerrie’s personal experience of living with congenital heart disease, but also the lack of awareness of heart disease in women, and the opinion that heart disease is often considered a ‘man’s disease’.
With this in mind, the long-term goal of the collaboration will focus on exploring more ways in which to reach more women and educate them on how to keep their heart healthy, as well as the potential symptoms to look out for.
The Debut Concept - A Heart of Gold Necklace
To kick off their collaboration and crowdfunding project, Kerrie and Emma are proposing to make one hundred, one-of-a-kind, completely unique, gold heart necklaces.
Each heart will be individually sculpted/created by hand and will be completely unique with its own very subtle differences. Each one perfectly imperfect and symbolic of the many different precious hearts that have been shaped in different ways by heart disease.
Emma and Kerrie hope that these pieces will be worn to empower those already affected by heart disease or by those simply connected to and passionate about the cause, who would like to help raise awareness of heart disease in women and ways to prevent it.
To achieve this, they hope the unusual organic nature of the heart charm, sitting on a necklace in a very visible position on the chest, will spark all-important conversations about heart disease and encourage more women to take their heart health more seriously.
Kerrie and Emma have also created a bespoke kit option to ‘make your own heart of gold’, whereby you can create your very own, completely unique heart necklace.
Their goal
With the help of the crowdfunding community and their potential backers, Kerrie and Emma hope to learn that there is support for their project so that they can bring their unique jewellery concept to market and continue raising awareness as well as ongoing funds for the British Heart Foundation.
If Kerrie and Emma hit their crowdfunding target of around £35,000 they will be able to donate just over £5000 to the British Heart Foundation from this project. If they don't quite make their target, they will still be donating 20% of the proceeds to the charity as they have chosen to run a 'keep what you raise' campaign.
With the remaining funds Kerrie and Emma also want to continue exploring a wider collection of jewellery and look at other ways in which they can continue to educate and raise awareness of heart disease in women as they have lots of wonderful ideas. The money will go towards design time, prototyping, and the development of additional pieces such as earrings, rings, and bracelets so that they can appeal to and reach an even wider audience.
To read more about this unique project and to pledge your support click the link below.
