House of Lor Irish Gold Jewellery: Gold is gold, or is it?
By Gary Pillow – House of Lor Director
We are Stardust; we are Golden. Recently these words have taken on a special meaning for me. Earlier this month, I (we, or, Ireland, or the Irish nation) lost a very close and special friend Shay Healy. Shay was undoubtedly one of the real jewels of our Emerald isle.
Amongst Shay’s many talents (too many to mention here) he was a prolific and wonderful songwriter. One of the last songs he wrote and got to perform live on national TV was “Stardust”. This beautiful song is about how we all come from, and return to stardust, and how we will all meet again to mingle in that cosmic cloud where all things began so very long ago.
So what has my dear friend Shay’s passing, and a song he wrote got to do with Irish Gold I hear you ask.
Well, so many of you have asked the question “what makes House Of Lor gold so special “ There is only one answer to this question, which is providence. By providence, I mean that all House Of Lor Irish Jewellery gold comes from a small gold mine in Omagh County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, which happens to be the only commercial gold mine in Ireland, hence the only jewellery collection made using rare Irish Gold.
For those of you who would like to know a little of the history of our gold and the journey it has taken to arrive on your finger or the wrist of a loved one, this is where the journey gets fascinating.
About 15 billion years ago after the big bang, that first spark which created all we know and all we see today. The element Gold (chemical symbol AU derived from the Latin “Aurum, or shining dawn” meaning aura) was created along with lots of other heavy precious and non-precious metals. This gold drifted through the universe for a further 5 billion years until it eventually came together at the molten core of our Mother Earth.
“Gold is Gold, but some gold is more precious to us, and the planet we all share”.
GARY PILLOW – HOUSE OF LOR
Most gold that is mined today was brought to the earth’s surface by geological forces over a further 3.5 million years. When first discovered by our ancient ancestors, it was revered as having divine powers because it looked so much like the Sun God; it must have come from the Sun. Our ancestors were not far wrong with their assumption of the celestial origins of this wondrous metal. Some gold which is found on the surface of our planet, arrived much later, having travelled through our solar system for millennia inside asteroids and comets, which then crashed into Earth, scattering their precious cargo.
Unfortunately, the last little part of gold’s long journey can be cruel and damaging to the environment. I cringe when I see the destruction of the Amazonian rain forest, for example, making way for mining and ranching. I also know that all too often, these mines are operated by poor, one-man prospectors or small families who work in appalling conditions, using nasty things like Mercury to attract the gold. As if that isn’t shocking enough, the Mercury is then burned off in open fires whilst they and their families breathe these deadly fumes, not to mention the damage to the environment and ecosystems.
So Gold is Gold, but some gold is more precious to us, and the planet we all share.
Gary Pillow has been in the jewellery business, a long time. No surprise, really, it’s in his genes; his father and grandfather before him were also Goldsmiths.
His jewellery pedigree includes the design and production of the John Rocha Jewellery brand. Based in Dublin, Gary now heads up design and production for the House of Lor brand. He is passionate about the brand and has delivered beautiful designs with a unique feature – Irish Gold.
