Oncefound jewellery is handmade and crafted from a mix of materials, including semi-precious stones, crystals, sterling silver, gold fill, stainless steel, textiles and treasures collected over time.
The label was founded by Elizabeth Gaffney, a multi-disciplined designer based in Portugal. With a background in fashion design, art direction and styling, she has been creating jewellery since she was a child and is inspired by the places she has lived in and travelled to while growing up and since then. Memories of 1980s Los Angeles and the colour palettes, shapes and textiles of Jaipur, Istanbul and Tangier still play strongly in her mind, shaping her designs and she is constantly inspired by the changing light and pastel colours of her everyday surroundings in Lisbon.
Her work as an energy healer and knowledge of the energetic properties of semi-precious stones, colour and spiritual symbolism also influence her work.
Once Seen, Once Found
I once found some little white stones by a white water river in Jasper. They sparkled in the sun and my father told me that they were jewels sent down from the glacier under the ice grey sky.
Snow crystals that got so cold they turned to stone and as I was the one to find them, I should be the one to treasure them.
I once met a fortune teller by Santa Monica Pier. I crossed her palms with silver and she laid out my fortune in cards across the table and peered into my future through the crystal ball between us.
She told me that once I returned home, I would want to return.
“Home? Where is my home?” I asked.
“Home is where you find it”, she replied.
“Home is where you find it!" chimed the spinning beaded bicycle wheels all the way down to Venice Beach. And I knew they would keep on spinning long after I left.
Spinning and chiming. Spinning and chiming.
And I did want to return once I returned.
I returned the following summer to find the wheels of Venice Beach Boardwalk still spinning and the Pacific waves still rolling.
Rolling. Crashing.
Rolling in.
Stretching Out.
Inhale.
Exhale.
“Home is where you find it!” they chorused into the wind.
Was this home now? I had come to find out or collect my heart from where I’d left it.
I knew I had found something to be treasured when I saw him first.
His eyes were the colour of the sea.
Lke the sea, they changed colour in a dance with the clouds and ever-revolving planets above.
And like the snow crystals sent down from the glaciers in Jasper, they sparkled in the sun.
They sparkled at me and there were sparks between us.
Once you see, once you know and once you know, you know.
But there was still more to learn and more to know.
Once upon a time. Once upon a whim. Once upon a wind chime…
Once upon a glance… Once upon a chance…
Once upon a star… Once upon you are…
A wandering wise man once said as he walked this earth, “Seek and you shall find.”
He was the seer of seers, a friend to all and over two thousand years later,
His words still stand true and tall.
And if you don’t seem to find what you’re looking for, seek and seek some more.
Every tide brings in new treasures while others are washed away.
Once you find it or it finds you, you will know.
But once you see it, soon you won’t.
A true treasure is only found once.
Once made. Once seen. Once found.
by Elizabeth Gaffney
