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Tree of life brooches for women: reading the motif
A tree of life brooch turns a single, well-known outline into a piece of jewellery: roots below, a short trunk, a canopy opened out into a circle. This page gathers the pieces built on that outline, with the finish and the fastening set out on each product page.
Our tree of life brooches
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Few motifs survive being shrunk to the size of a coin. The tree of life does, because its shape is already circular and because the branches read as texture rather than detail. That is why it works as a brooch when a more literal design would turn into a smudge on a lapel.
What a tree of life brooch is actually showing
The outline is old and it has travelled widely, from Celtic knotwork to illuminated manuscripts, and no single culture owns it. What matters when you are buying one is simpler: the design has to stay legible at two or three centimetres across. Pieces that keep the three zones distinct read well from a metre away, while a design that fills every gap just turns into a disc.
| Roots | The densest part of the design, worked as a knot or a spread of fine lines at the base. |
|---|---|
| Trunk | Short and central. It carries the visual weight, and on many pieces the fixing point sits behind it. |
| Canopy | The widest area and the one that holds the colour, through enamel, cut openwork or raised relief. |
On coloured versions, each leaf takes its own shade, so the canopy reads as a small mosaic rather than a flat surface. Plain metal plays it differently: the depth does the work, with the branches sitting proud of the background.
Holding it in place without leaving a hole
Two fastenings run through the brooch range, and they behave very differently. A magnet sits in two parts, one either side of the cloth, and leaves nothing behind when you take it off. A pin goes through the weave and holds firmly on anything thick, at the cost of a small permanent hole. Fine knitwear, silk and soft coat lapels argue for the magnet; heavy tweed and denim will take either. The rest of the pieces that fasten this way sit on the page for jewellery that fastens without going through the cloth.
Giving one as a gift
The motif carries an obvious reading, which is why it turns up at birthdays, housewarmings and milestone anniversaries. It is a safer choice than a name or an initial because it does not date and does not need to fit. Size is worth checking: a small piece suits someone who wears fine jumpers; a wider one needs a coat or a jacket to sit on properly.
Keeping the colour
Enamel dulls before it scratches. A dry, soft cloth at the end of the day clears fingerprints and the dust that collects between branches. Keep perfume and hairspray off the piece, and store it flat rather than loose in a box where chains can rub across the relief. Magnets belong away from bank cards and anything else with a magnetic strip.
Where this sits in the brooch range
Plant and tree designs are one thread among several. The wider selection of brooches for women covers both figurative motifs and abstract shapes, and the floral designs stay closest to this one in mood while working at a larger scale.