Behind the pin

During my 20 yrs of living and working in Fiji I witnessed how the local Hindu Muslim and Fijian communities shared and supported each other at times of loss. Community support was immediate and the loss was commemorated with visible symbols and commemorated with rituals over time. “Everyone knew.” Returning home to Australia and experiencing my own personal loss, my journey with grief felt so different. So alone. Expressing my observations to my English grandmother she shared stories of a long lost traditions in which people had crafted personallised mourning brooches.
This got me thinking.

A collage of vintage jewelry pieces surrounding a black-and-white photograph of three women in historical clothing, with one woman seated and two standing, in a room with ornate wallpaper and a portrait of a man in the background.

I set out to create a pin for the 21st century. A pin that reflects a shared universal reality, that from the moment of birth, we will all experience loss. My pin has supported the Grief Org. Australia for the last 25 years with profits supporting their NFP grief counselling services. Today, my mission is to improve our mental health whilst navigating grief, for any loss, by enabluing community connection. Wearing the pin enables sharing stories and empathy and freedom to take your journey with loss in your time. It offers others, even complete strangers, the opportunuty, to share theirs.

Twofold dress shirts, one white with floral embroidery and one black, neatly folded and displayed side by side on a plain background.