And not just because the 2023 Lunar Near Year (aka Chinese New Year) on Jan. 22 includes my birth year. If you read this blog, you already know: I love rabbits. At Easter time and pretty much any time I happen to see them (my daughter and I even made a sign that says “Bunnies Welcome” that we hang in our window every spring—a COVID-era craft project that now resurfaces annually in anticipation of the year’s first rabbit sightings (often including babies!) in our yard.
Some believe that rabbits are the luckiest sign in the Chinese zodiac and below you’ll see me trying to attract as much of prosperity as I can with a custom necklace by my friend Katey Walker featuring vintage carved turquoise bunnies from our mutual friend Estelle Newman.
I have read that rabbits are generally thought to be lucky in Asian culture and are a universal symbol of abundance, fertility, and imagination. Rabbits are also deeply in tune with the feminine rhythms of the universe.
Meanwhile, I am not the only one with a fondness for bunnies, especially when it comes to the British (hello, Beatrix Potter). In fact, the animal has become a kind of hero of the U.K.-based jewelry brand Alex Monroe. According to its head of fine jewelry, Susie Lee, “Rabbit iconography is threaded throughout our culture. They are actually quite easy to spot wild in nature all around the U.K., and we love to highlight what’s special about nature here at home. Customers are drawn to them because they are cute (of course!) and represent our childhoods. We made a lovely White Rabbit necklace as a collaboration with the Victoria & Albert museum’s [2021] Alice in Wonderland exhibition.”
The original rabbit design was based on Tubby, a pet that belonged to founding designer Alex Monroe’s daughter Connie. Tubby would roam around the house and was very much part of the family. At Monroe’s home in the British countryside, rabbits make regular appearances in his vegetable patch. “They are all very cute, but it’s a bit Mr. McGregor and Peter Rabbit at times! We always lose!” he says.
But from where I sit, no veggie gardens to speak of, rabbits are a necessary indulgence. And even though Chinese New Year is technically a 15-day celebration, the baked-in permanence of a bunny bauble—and the joy it can bring—is almost certainly a forever kind of thing. An entire warren of little rascals ahead!
Top: At the tippity top of my wish list: This gorgeous Häre and the Trap signet ring in 9k gold with blue ceramic engraving, $2,793, from U.K.-based designer Castro Smith.
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