Alahas

Alahas, the Filipino word for jewellery - speaks to something far deeper than adornment. It is the memory of a little girl slipping her mother’s rings onto small fingers, rings loosened by years of hardworking, loving hands. It is the quiet sanctuary of a goldsmithing class at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, a stolen hour of creation amidst the relentless pace of a career in finance. It is the pair of white and blue ceramic earrings worn like a talisman through every day on Wall Street: small, steadfast, and entirely one’s own.

As a jewellery designer, my relationship with pieces has always been one of devotion and transformation, each creation distinct, each one weighted with meaning. A round shield pendant worn close to the chest, as resolute as armour. A single keshi Tahitian pearl, irregular and luminous, rescued from a bowl of overlooked and discarded beads and now gracing a wrist with quiet distinction. There is something profound in giving the overlooked a place of honour.

The shield pendants at the heart of this collection are a meditation on protection and legacy. Drawn from the tightly woven rattan shields and intricately carved Kalasag of our ancestors, each piece is a tribute to the intention behind the craft. Objects made not merely to be beautiful, but to shield, to fortify, to endure. They are heirlooms in the truest sense, carrying within them the spirit of those who came before.

What each piece means will differ from person to person. But every one carries the same quiet power of inspiration, of remembrance, of beauty that asks to be felt as much as seen.