Since ancient times, African jewelry has stood out with its stunning beauty. The modernity that characterizes it today often represents the traditional, mixed with innovative materials.
In the past, the Egyptian peoples south of the Sahara Desert, They made rings, bracelets, necklaces and many ornaments of gold, silver, brass, bronze, ebony wood, with amber and ivory inlays. Copper ornaments were used in West Africa thousands of years BC, among the people of Mali and the Ivory Coast; The women adorned their beauty with jewelry in copper rings, chameleon necklaces on which different amulets and talismans were hung that they used as protection, symbolizing the esoteric and mysterious cultures of those times.
They had copper garments with iron alloys, thinking they possessed spiritual powers. They named copper after red gold, carved granite stones incorporating large glass pearls. The navigators from Portugal, when they arrived in African lands, they traded gold for leopard skins, glass pearls, and coral beads; the latter were a treasury reserved for the rich, to show the high rank that differentiated them.
On the Amparo Vera Grijalba YouTube channel, you can be dazzled by an exhibition of African ethnic jewelry.
The goldsmiths at that time founded their culture on gold jewelry and art objects made of that valuable metal; likewise, garments were often represented by a real or symbolic connection to a family member or loved one.
The figures made with gold, brass and some precious stones; they were protective images that personified dead relatives and they acquired an impressive inclination for healing, protection and security; used during the many diseases.
The glass powder reached a transcendental importance, the paste of that material was applied to the surfaces to create extremely beautiful and extravagant designs. Some desert peoples made spectacular jewelry, inspired by their wandering beliefs, identified in beads or glass balls; specially perforated to make ornaments and necklaces.
African jewelry has left its enormous influence in modern times, its splendid designs with various forms and creative trends represent the power of symbolism in all its territories.
In addition, diamond mining has led the African Continent to take possession of the market for this important product. Marvelous stones of multiple sizes and priceless, are purchased by many countries and kingdoms. These spectacular stones mark a unique genre in the jewelry industry; not only from those lands but from the whole world. The pieces with this distinctive seal the predominance of a before and after in that culture; adding more distinction to contemporary goldsmithing that currently distinguishes it.
The modern jewels of Africa maintain the essence of the tribal, but adapted to the style of our times, suitable for each woman. Jewels in which Jade, Amber, Turquoise, Emeralds are mixed; and above all the queen of precious stones in the enigmatic continent, the impressive Diamond; the most emblematic jewel of those regions, an incomparable treasure worth possessing.