When I get new ideas, they scratch and knock until I release them into the wild. I’m at that place again and the ideas seem to be piling up against that door. Before I launch into my new design project, I wanted to revisit an oldie. I received a rather cool custom inquiry the other day and it reminded me that I never really told the story of how and why I created the Morse Code necklace back in early 2009.
After a b & i selling trip, I was wistfully gazing out of the plane window, thinking of family and friends I was leaving. As we headed farther into the sky I started noticing the silos and patterns in the land. I loved the simple shapes they made, the stories they seemed to tell, and how perfectly they were aligned. With intention. I thought of how it feels to be far away from the ones we love. I thought of secret messages filled with meaningful moments. I remembered morse code.
About one week later I taught myself how to scar metal (this is not a technical term, btw) and came up with this:
This was the first message I made. It says, “if.” I love that word.
The design has been super popular ever since and I’ve made more morse code custom pieces than any other custom design. Truth is, I love doing it. I love being a part of a gesture of love. One time, I had a woman my age buy one that said “loved” for her 90 year old grandfather. It makes me well up a little, just thinking about it.
The other day something happened that completely blew me away… I received a message from a customer wanting a custom morse code necklace. I love custom work, so I was immediately super excited about it. She had seen the necklace in a boutique and discovered quickly that I could make it more personal with a custom phrase. A few sentences later, I learned that she is a great, great, great niece of the, THE, the Samuel Morse. What!?! I mean, what are the chances!? I couldn’t be more flattered or excited that she wants to make a special gift out of this design.
People and their stories are SO cool.
***Song of the Moment: Simple X, by Andrew Bird***
