{"id":56974,"date":"2017-06-30T10:00:52","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T14:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uncommongoods.pro\/?p=56974"},"modified":"2017-10-26T11:47:47","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T15:47:47","slug":"designing-a-force-for-good-behind-the-scenes-of-our-hope-shines-necklace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/2017\/designing-a-force-for-good-behind-the-scenes-of-our-hope-shines-necklace\/","title":{"rendered":"Designing a Force for Good: Behind the Scenes of Our Hope Shines Necklace"},"content":{"rendered":"

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For 16 years, we here at UncommonGoods have demonstrated a commitment to supporting causes we care about\u00a0through our Better to Give\u00a0Program<\/a>, an initiative that allows us to donate $1 from each purchase to a non-profit partner of your choice (and at no additional cost to you). Earlier this year, our Product Development team<\/a>\u00a0joined forces\u00a0with one of our longest-standing Better to Give partners, RAINN<\/a>, the nation\u2019s largest anti-sexual violence organization, to craft\u00a0a unique item of jewelry to benefit their organization. The result\u2014our Hope Shines Necklace<\/a>\u2014is an elegant emblem\u00a0of what RAINN stands for, symbolizing hope, reflection, and triumph over darkness. But how did we arrive at this design?<\/p>\n

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The process was a long one\u2014about four months\u2014but our team began with a few ideas in mind.\u00a0At first, they\u00a0used text as a springboard, attempting to translate everything from statistics\u2014like RAINN\u2019s assertion that every 98 seconds, another American is sexually assaulted<\/a>\u2014to the number for the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline<\/a> into\u00a0wearable pieces of jewelry. Soon, however, they broadened their approach, exploring ways to\u00a0highlight some of the more general themes associated with RAINN\u2019s mission, like hope, forward motion, and the ongoing nature of one\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

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Images from our product developers’ inspiration boards.<\/p><\/div>\n

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These efforts, too, manifested at first in text, as our team experimented with designs incorporating ellipses and semicolons, but one image soon stood out: a photograph of a crystalline\u00a0pendant included on one of the team\u2019s inspiration boards, pictured above, whose bright, reflective character\u00a0struck a chord with all involved. As our product developers\u2019 ideas began to take shape, reflection quickly became a prominent theme.<\/p>\n

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Early Hope Shines mock-ups.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Inspired by the concept of light emerging from darkness and bolstered by feedback from our friends at RAINN, our team soon began to toy with a series of designs incorporating celestial imagery alongside brilliant pieces of moonstone, chosen for its reflective look and rich history as an emblem of hope and protection. Although the sun and moon took many forms in these later, more refined mock-ups, from tiny beads to freely dangling gold and silver disks, our team ultimately settled on a fixed design with a moonstone at its center, surrounded by a ring of\u00a0hammered sterling silver and, behind it, a 14k gold vermeil \u201csun.\u201d Here, the rear of the moonstone is left exposed, allowing light to pass through the whole of the stone and encouraging interplay with the wearer\u2019s skin and clothing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Hope Shines Necklace is not only a work of art, it’s a work of hope,\u201d says Jodi Omear, Vice President of Communications at RAINN. \u201cThe UncommonGoods team has done a fantastic job of creating a design that not only feels grounding and calming\u2014but also fierce and resilient, just like the survivors we work with every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partnership with UncommonGoods has spanned six years, enabling us to work together to help thousands of survivors. We’re grateful they have dedicated a portion of the proceeds from the Hope Shines Necklace to benefit RAINN’s critical services for survivors, such as the National Sexual Assault Hotline.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As always, we are proud to partner with RAINN, this time on an exclusive item with\u00a0which our customers can showcase their support for the organization and its mission. Although RAINN\u2019s work can be difficult to discuss, it is crucial in a world in which an astonishing number of people\u2014over 300,000 over the age of 12<\/a>\u2014are victimized by sexual assault each year. Since beginning our partnership, UncommonGoods has raised $339,833 in support for RAINN, and with each purchase of our Hope Shines Necklace, RAINN will receive an additional $5\u2014a contribution we\u2019re thrilled to be able to make.<\/p>\n

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