Carrying Stories not Stuff
When life is stripped back, what we truly treasure remains
We all collect things over the years — little treasures, “just in case” items, things we once thought we’d need but now can’t quite remember why we kept. Sometimes it takes a big change to realise how little we actually need to carry with us.
A couple who visited the shop recently told me they’d sold their home in Devon, bought a campervan, and now spend six months in the UK and six months travelling abroad. They said the real joy wasn’t just in the travelling — it was in the letting go. That feeling of lightness stayed with me, and it brought to mind a very different story from my own family.
My grandmother’s story
In 1943, my grandmother, Renee Cumberbatch, was living in Shanghai, where she had been born and raised. Her father worked for Sun Insurance London, and her parents had moved to China from Manchester before she was born. That year, her father was taken by the Japanese to Lincoln Avenue Internment Camp — the same camp J.G. Ballard would later write about in Empire of the Sun. At the time, my grandmother was four months pregnant with my mum. She was just 22 years old.
When mum was five months old, my grandmother, her baby, and her father were also sent into the camp. She had been forcibly separated from her husband, and before entering she gave away all her jewellery — knowing she would not be allowed to keep it.
Inside, around 300 families were crammed into thirteen houses. There was no running water, meals were simple and sparse: reheated rice, thin stew, black bread. Red Cross parcels were rare. By the time she left, fifteen months later, she weighed just six stone despite being nearly six feet tall.
She didn’t speak about her time there for many years, until she began campaigning for an apology from the Japanese government.
You can read more about her story in this North Norfolk News article.
VJ Day and the things we keep
This week marks 80 years since VJ Day — the end of the war in the Pacific. For me, it’s a reminder that possessions can be lost in a moment, but the love, memories, and stories they hold can’t be taken from us. That’s why I make jewellery to carry meaning. Small treasures that can be worn every day, tucked safely in a pocket, or taken across the world. Pieces that remind you of where you’ve been, who you’ve loved, and the moments that matter most.
What about you?
If you had to let go of everything, what’s the one thing you’d want to keep? I’d love to hear your answer.
If you’re looking for a piece of jewellery to carry your own story, you can explore my Norfolk Beach jewellery or Once Upon a Button jewellery collections here on my website, They might remind you of special moments on the norfolk coast.
