Our latest Speranza Collection is brimming with meaning and symbolism; it has joined our series of other heritage-inspired jewellery that brings a strong sense of nostalgia and pride in those who wear it.
Speranza is made up of a variety of jewellery pieces whose design is inspired by three main, inter-connected elements - the fictional story known as 'Il-Leġġenda tal-Wied tal-Isperanza' (a legend set in the Speranza Valley in Mosta), the heritage window, and traditional handmade Maltese lace known as 'bizzilla'.
It all comes together in the Mosta valley, where the legend (as well as our campaign video) is set.
The empowering story follows a young woman, Marija, whose family was working the fields in the area. At the time (1700s) Turkish pirate attacks were very common in Malta and the locals had become accustomed to the idea of having to look out for Turkish robbers.
This is exactly what happened to Marija's family, who spotted some Turks approaching and fled towards the Mosta valley to seek refuge. As the story goes, Marija was feeling tired and got cut off from the group.
She happened to be close to a cave in the valley, which now lies beneath the beloved Speranza Chapel. Hiding inside the cave, which was laden with spiders' webs and a wild plant known as 'tursin il-bir', Marija prayed to Our Lady to save her from the Turks.
The legend recounts the way that at this point, a spider started weaving an intricate web that served as a curtain across the entrance to the cave.
"Dak il-hin, niżlet brimba mis-saqaf U b'subgħajha hekk rotob u ħfief F'tebqa t'għajn u l-ħjut nisġet t' għanqbuta, B'dik is-sengħa Ii tgħaggeb l-għorrief."
The Turks were of course looking for the girl, but were tricked into believing that she couldn't have possibly been hiding inside the cave, since a spider's web was completely blocking the entrance.
An overjoyed Marija believed that it was Our Lady who protected and saved her from the Turks, so what happened next was that as a sign of gratitude towards God and Our Lady and in remembrance of her story, she wanted to have a chapel built above the cave.
Enter other elements that inspired this collection, and we have a direct link to the amazing craftsmanship of Maltese artisans who work traditional lace (bizzilla).
Similarly to the way that spiders weave their webs, the intricate designs turn into beautiful artistic pieces following hours on end of hard work, as we learnt from Ursula Gauci, who has been working her magic with Maltese lace for many years.
The third and last element that served as inspiration for our collection takes us back to a design that isn't new to Mvintage, as part of it was originally introduced a few years back.
The Heritage Window design is a follow-up on the Heritage Pendant, but this time it is practically a reproduction of the heritage window found on the facade of the Speranza Chapel in Mosta, as well as several others built during the same period.
We would love to hear your thoughts on our Speranza Collection. Discover all the jewellery pieces here and let us know which your favourites are.
