Hi.  I'm Angela Kirkpatrick, your postmortem jewelry designer and the woman behind Wisp Adornments.  I design and manufacture all of the jewelry by myself in my home in the Pacific Northwest.  I believe that Memento Mori and memorial jewelry is a mourning tradition that deserves a revival.  These kinds of objects can comfort those who are grieving losses, and having a visceral part of a person or pet helps people feel close to the people or pets that are no longer with them.  It is a pleasure to design jewelry that can serve this purpose.

Memento Mori Jewelry

The translation of the Latin phrase "Memento Mori" is "remember you must die".  As early as the 15th century and until the early 20th century people often wore jewelry inscribed with messages to remind them of the transient nature of life, to hold the hair and ashes and teeth of those beloved to them.

Reaching the height of popularity during the Victorian age, these beautiful, intricate reminders of mortality were sometimes gives as gifts at funerals and bore symbols associated with death; skulls and bones, winged hourglasses, forget me not flowers, snakes eating their own tails, and a variety of Latin phrases pertaining to the shortness of all of our lives.