Times they are changing… but not quite fast enough. While many Australians not-so patiently wait for equal marriage rights in Australia, Australian fine jeweler Nadia Neuman decided to take charge and make a bold statement with a piece of jewellery that both raises fund for Australian Marriage Equality, and will serve as an heirloom piece for gay rights history.
Rescu. Editor and Founder Bahar Etminan sat down with designer Nadia Neuman to discuss the inspiration behind the Australian Marriage Equality Ring, what the ring aims to do, and whether or not she invited Tony Abbott to the launch…
RESCU: Tell me about your inspiration for doing this marriage equality ring. It’s pretty brave.
Nadia Nauman: Oh no, I don’t consider it brave at all! I consider it necessary.
My motivation comes from it being such a necessary cause and such an important thing. If I’m in the position to be able to do something worthwhile then I’ll absolutely jump at it. I mean I had a café ten years ago and I made sure it was an organic café. It’s about being in a position to be able to help and create a little bit of a shift and hopefully contribute to change.
RESCU: And the inspiration behind the design?
Nadia Nauman: The inspiration for the design is, you know those platter rings? So they originated in the 17th century Ireland and there’s a heart, hands and a crown. The hands symbolise friendship, the heart love and the crown loyalty. They come from a group of ancient roman rings called Feda rings, which symbolise an exchange of vows. It just so happens that the Australian Marriage Equality symbol is two hands holding a heart and it makes perfect sense. It’s about loyalty, commitment and friendship and it worked out perfectly. What I like about Jewellery is that jewellery has a history behind it and it tells a story and it tells you a story of a time that was of people and a society and values and if you can bring some of that into contemporary design it’s a beautiful and very special, very meaningful thing.
RESCU: You’ve had absolutely no problem getting people on board to support this and you had it seemed to be a very organic like-mindedness of creative people, celebrities and politicians who just really very effortlessly lent their name to this
Nadia Nauman: Yeah it was. It’s really exciting to be a part of something that everybody is really excited to help out with and support. You feel like the world is a happy place and people are good again. Everybody was jumping at it and wanting to help out however they can.
RESCU: So in terms of who you would think is going to buy this ring-this is not a commitment ring. This is a piece of jewellery you give, or keep for yourself?
Nadia Nauman: Yes it’s a beautiful quality piece of jewellery. I’m a fine jeweler and I grew up in this industry. My parents started it around 50 years ago so it’s high-end jewellery. It’s an heirloom piece. It’s going to last for 100 years. It’s going to last to pass down to your children or grand children. Hopefully it will do what jewellery in the past has done and it will remind you of a moment in time. It will remind people of the fight that once was …it’s inevitable that it’s going to change.
RESCU: And can you tell us about the various rings in the collection?
Nadia Nauman: So I’ve actually created a sterling silver, then a rose white and yellow gold in 9 carrots, a rose white and yellow gold in 18 carrot, then pave set diamond ones. We also have limited edition pink and blue diamond rings. We have two stores and one of them specialises in pink argyle diamonds. We have the largest selection in the country. So these limited edition ones I guess are for people who want a beautiful ring with the rarest stone in the world that there are only a few of. There are only five for the whole world that we’ve got. And also they would want to contribute a large chunk of money to Australia Marriage Equality.
RESCU: And how did you come to be partnered with Australia Marriage Equality in this event and in this relationship?
Nadia Nauman: We’ve just launched a wedding and commitment ring business. We do beautiful wedding rings and we’ve been very successful .We do them well. They’re competitively priced. So we’ve started this new business. Hopefully that will all work. With that I get a lot of same sex couples buying wedding and commitment rings from me. Ones that cant get married. It tugs at my heartstrings. Its something very close to my heart and if there is a way of me helping and designing something that will work and that will get funding towards AME then that is a great thing.
RESCU: And what do AME need funding for?
Nadia Nauman: Lobbying, awareness and also their ‘We are Waiting’ campaign.
RESCU: And how far away do you think Australia is from making this yesterday’s issue?
Nadia Nauman: Hopefully close, I’m optimistic. It’s so backwards to me…hopefully very close.
RESCU: Did you invite Tony Abbot?
Nadia Nauma: We invited everyone. We have Tanya Plibersek coming to speak so that will be great. Alex Greenwich is coming to speak…no we didn’t invite Tony Abbott. But we do have Tony Abbot’s sister coming with her partner.
Purchase your Australian Marriage Equality Ring here