The Dragonfly Wing - A Piece of Wild Ireland
When you slow down you notice the truly special things in life. A flash of colour above a pond, and the almost weightless movement of wings catching the light. A bird calling from somewhere beyond the hedgerow. The shape of a seed or a shell that you might pass a hundred times before one day really seeing it.
The Dragonfly Wing pendant began with one of those moments. On our family farm in County Mayo, my sisters and I created a pond for nature. Over time, it became its own small ecosystem, and dragonflies began to appear around the water. Watching them there made me think about how much beauty exists quietly around us, and how often the natural world reveals itself when we take the time to look.
A dragonfly wing, captured in precious metal
I have always been drawn to the details that can easily be missed. When I looked closely at a dragonfly's wing, I was struck by its extraordinary structure, the fine network of cells, the balance between strength and delicacy, and the way something so fragile is so perfectly engineered.
The Dragonfly Wing pendant is sculpted to capture those delicate details in sterling silver or solid gold. The form is simple and elongated, and it has a quiet elegance rather than being a very obvious statement piece, which is part of what makes it so personal.
It is jewellery inspired by nature, but it is also jewellery about paying attention, and remaining curious.
The Dragonfly & Transformation
When I looked into what the dragonfly can symbolise I learned that they have long been associated with change and transformation. For much of its life, a dragonfly exists beneath the surface of the water as a nymph. It lives quietly in freshwater before eventually emerging and taking to the air as the creature we recognise. They are a shimmering symbol of change - a new chapter, growing into a different version of yourself, of leaving something behind, and beginning again.
Sometimes transformation is a gradual realisation, or it is learning to see your life differently. And sometimes it is recognising that you have arrived somewhere you once could not have imagined.
The Dragonfly Wing pendant can hold whatever that meaning is for you. I don't believe meaningful jewellery needs to have one prescribed meaning. The most special pieces become part of someone's own story.
A connection to the Irish landscape
The inspiration for this pendant began on our family farm in County Mayo, and that connection to the land is an important part of its story.
In the west of Ireland our landscape is woven into everyday life, the fields, rivers, lakes, bogs, hedgerows and coastline that are part of our sense of place and our heritage.
Creating a pond on the generational family farm was a small act of making space for that natural world. It had been one of the most rewarding things we have done to date, alongside hedgerow regeneration, native forestry, bog restoration, and allowing the land to become organic and recover from the effects of farming.
Dragonflies are particularly interesting because their lives are so closely tied to freshwater. There are 30 species of dragonfly and damselfly recorded in Ireland, including 14 resident dragonfly species. Their presence can also provide an indication of water and habitat quality, which is why they have become important to biodiversity monitoring in Ireland.
For me, that adds another layer to this piece. The pendant is not simply inspired by the appearance of a beautiful insect. It is a reminder of the relationship between us and the living landscape around us, and of the importance of leaving room for nature to return.
For the person who notices
Perhaps you are someone who notices the small things, the fine details, and whats really going on. Someone who is drawn to nature, to old stories and ways, to the changing seasons or to the quiet details of the landscape. Perhaps you have always felt a connection to the natural world, or you simply appreciate objects that have a story beneath their surface. The Dragonfly Wing pendant is for that kind of curious person who finds a particular kind of richness in the intangible, in memory, connection, place and meaning
I am interested in the things we carry with us that cannot be measured: a place we return to, a person we love, a memory from childhood, something we have overcome, or a moment when our perspective quietly changed. This can happen from time spent in the meadows of the west of Ireland or the raw and beautiful landscape of the bogs and Irish coastline. My jewellery gives those things somewhere to live.
Made personal with precious jewels
The Dragonfly Wing pendant can also be made especially personal with your choice of precious stones.The design is available in sterling silver and solid 9ct gold, including versions set with four lab-grown diamonds. Alternative precious stones can also be commissioned, including emerald, sapphire or ruby, allowing your pendant to take on an entirely different beauty and meaning.
A diamond can mark clarity, strength or a new beginning.
An emerald speaks to your connection with nature and the green landscape of Ireland.
A sapphire might hold personal calm or a particular memory.
A ruby could represent love, courage or something deeply held.
That is what makes a piece of fine jewellery truly personal.
Jewellery with a story
Every piece of Andrea Mears Jewellery is made by my hand in my studio in the west of Ireland, using traditional goldsmithing techniques alongside contemporary design and modelling processes.
My designs are not mass-produced or anonymous. They have a sense of having been considered- from the original idea to the proportions, the details and the finished piece.
The Dragonfly Wing pendant began with a pond on a family farm in County Mayo, watching something small and beautiful move across the waters surface. It became a study of a wing- of structure, delicacy and transformation.
Finally, it becomes something else again when it is worn by someone whose own story becomes part of it. A shimmering symbol of transformation and trysting our inner wisdom.