This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Peace Symbol.
This famous icon is as timely now, in the face of all the current conflicts in our world, as it was on February 21, 1958, when Gerald Holtom first designed it.
Why not include the Peace Symbol somehow in some of your jewelry this year?
No matter what jewelry components or techniques you use, you can find a creative way to fashion a version of this universal symbol, and spread the message of peace.
Will you have a market for this kind of jewelry? I’d say so.
Teenagers are intrigued by the Peace Symbol’s retro coolness – its aura of “anti-authority”.
And their parents (or grandparents) remember wearing the Symbol when they were teenagers themselves.
Back then, in the 1960′s and 70′s, the Peace Symbol was an important emblem of the anti-war and counter-culture movements.
But before that, it was used by a different group.
Originally it was designed and used as Britain’s logo for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), in protest of atomic weapons research.
If you look closely at the Peace Symbol, you can see the stylized letters “CND” that create the design.
Another secret meaning is also embedded in this motif.
Gerald Holtom (who was a conscientious objector in addition to being the Peace Symbol’s designer) said:
“I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalised the drawing into a line and put a circle round it.”
The Peace Symbol has intentionally never been copyrighted.
No one has to get permission or pay a fee to use it. A symbol of freedom, it’s free to everyone.
I think this year’s half-century anniversary of the Peace Symbol is a significant milestone.
I remember seeing the Peace Symbol everywhere when I was a little girl in the early 1970′s.
I knew what it meant, and I often doodled fancy versions of the Symbol on my school papers while listening to the teacher.
At home, we sent letters, pictures, and packages to my uncle while he was away at war for a long time in Vietnam.
Now, nearly 40 years later, my son’s classmates send emails and packages to their moms, dads, and other family members away at war in Iraq.
For 2008, one of my personal wishes is peace and love on Earth.
So this year I’ve decided to use the 50-year-old Peace Symbol – still relevant, still instantly recognized around the world – in some of my jewelry designs.
And I think I’ll create a special “50th Anniversary” enclosure card for these pieces.
Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
What a wonderful idea!!! I had no idea that this was the 50th anniversary of the symbol – it holds much memory for me as I protested with it against the Vietnam war and my 26 year old daughter is also taken with this universal symbol. I will encorporate this symbol into my jewelry also this year and give many people the chance to embrace this symbol & it’s message in this USA election year. Wishing you peace in 2008.
Another reason to celebrate this universally beloved symbol! I have been using the peace sign in my designs for at least the last year and a half. I have a jeweler friend who also has been selling a lot of pieces with peace sign motifs for quite some time. Our pieces have been selling well and I hope that trend continues through the new year. I think everyone is ready to give peace a chance!