How I Got Here: Sig Ward on Turning Tragedy Into Jewelry That Heals
By Karen Dybis | March 06, 2024
"Sig Ward is the epitome of a career second act, creating her eponymous Southern California–based jewelry brand when she was 45 years old.
Ward had a successful acupuncture practice and loved her work as a healer, but her focus changed when her then 9-year-old son was injured in a surfing accident. She took a year off from work to care for her son after he underwent brain surgery and spent four days in the intensive care unit. All the while, she was deciding what her next steps should be.
“I knew whatever I did next, it had to make my heart sing,” Ward says. “Jewelry did that. It’s for people to be happy. You adorn yourself, and you feel happy. You show up for yourself.”
The Bia ring ($6,000) features two of Sig Ward’s favorite stones: aquamarine in the baguettes, and tourmaline at the center.
During her son’s recovery, Ward thought back to her teenage days in Tel Aviv, going with her mother—a born haggler, she says—to the jewelry store. Those purchases were meaningful not only because they came from her mom but for the lessons she learned about jewelry’s symbolism.
Ward took her mother’s negotiating skills and her own personal style on her journey to starting her own jewelry line. A present from another family member would inspire the final push Ward needed, she says.
“I had received a gift from my sister, who had sent me some money to buy myself something. She said I should buy myself jewelry. I mean, what else would I buy?” Ward says with a laugh. “I went to a store in Manhattan Beach, and everything felt generic. I thought to myself, ‘I can do that. I can create something.’”
Sig Ward Jewelry, originally called Rocks and Gems, was founded in 2014. Ward says she designs for the woman who already has her jewelry-wardrobe staples and is now in the market for pieces that make her stand out from anyone else.
Ward describes her Horseshoe necklace ($5,500)—in pink tourmaline, pink opal, and turquoise—as a beacon: Opal is associated with love and kindness, while turquoise is the stone of luck and protection.
She often uses large gemstones, especially her favorites aquamarine, emerald, opal, and tourmaline. All Sig Ward Jewelry has a motif representing Ward’s intentions for wearers about healing and growth.
“In the beginning I worked mostly in gold and diamonds. Then I decided to lean into gemstones and what I knew about their healing properties,” Ward says. “I use colors like blues, pinks, yellows, and greens as my palette to uplift people. I want to take my clients to a perpetual spring and summer.
“I hope that my jewelry gives people the ability to get out of their heads and be happy,” she adds. “I want them to take in my message and feel like they too can be happy and achieve the things they want to achieve.”
This Criss Cross pearl ring ($3,965) is an example of Sig Ward’s showstopping pieces of jewelry.
Ward’s collections include Infinity, symbolizing her belief in infinite love, blessings, and an individual’s capabilities, and Horseshoe Manifest, inspired by the so-called law of attraction stating that people create reality with their thoughts and beliefs.
Blossom is perhaps Ward’s most personal testament in jewelry: It's ... "
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