Written by Edwin Charmain – Pusaka Jewellery
The word pusaka carries a quiet gravity in Indonesian. It does not simply describe an object, but something entrusted to be worn, kept, and eventually passed on. A pusaka is not owned in the ordinary sense. It moves through hands and lives over time, gathering meaning as it goes.
The Meaning of Pusaka
[Red Riding Hood (Roodkapje) Indische Batik Cloth by Eliza Van Zuylen, Pekalongan, Central Java, Indonesia 1900-1920 ] Greg Roberts & Ian Reeds Collection, Photo Credit: Mick Richards.
Growing up in Pekalongan, Central Java, I encountered this idea often, though not always through jewellery. It could be a kris carefully wrapped in cloth, a piece of batik preserved for special occasions, or a small object kept in a wooden drawer whose story had outlived its maker.
What gave these things value was never their material alone, but the memory they carried — and the lives they had already passed through.
Jewellery has long lived within this same territory. It marks moments that matter: a marriage, a birth, a promise, a remembrance. Worn close to the body, it quietly gathers the traces of a life — the warmth of skin, the passage of time, the stories told around it.
Jewellery in a World of Commodities
[Pusaka Jewellery Ixora Filigree Flower Making Process/Details] Pusaka Archive, London, 2023.
Today, jewellery is often treated very differently. It moves through the world like any other commodity: produced quickly, consumed briefly, replaced when trends change. Its value is measured by novelty or price rather than meaning.
The idea of pusaka offers another way to think about jewellery.
At Pusaka Jewellery, each piece of handcrafted silver jewellery is created with the intention of becoming something lasting — jewellery that carries memory, shaped slowly by hand rather than produced for immediacy.
Silver as a Vessel of Memory
[Behind The Scene: Filigree Basic Looped Leaf Motifs] Pusaka Archive, London, 2019.
When I began working with silver, I was drawn not only to the material but to its ability to hold time. Silver changes gently as it is worn. It gathers small marks, softens along its edges, and carries the subtle evidence of a life lived with it.
Unlike objects designed for flawless perfection, handmade silver jewellery — particularly in filigree, where each fine strand is shaped and placed by hand — welcomes these traces. They become part of the object’s story.
This is why the process of making matters so much. A piece shaped slowly by hand already carries a history before it even leaves the bench. The hours of melting, hammering, soldering, and shaping become part of its quiet beginning.
Jewellery That Continues a Story
[Pusaka Rings Combination; Jasminum 9K Yellow Gold, Sambuccus Tangled Ring, Polaris Signet] Pusaka Archive, London, 2024.
When someone later wears that piece, their story continues the one already embedded in the metal.
Jewellery made in this way resists the logic of commodities. It does not aim to be endlessly replaced. Instead, it asks to stay — to accompany the wearer through years, perhaps even generations.
In this sense, a piece of jewellery can become a pusaka: an object that gathers meaning as it moves from one life to another.
Beyond the Object
[Ixora Charm Necklace, Sambucus Tangled Ring, and Kris Silver Brooch] Pusaka Archive, London, 2023.
I often think about this when I finish a piece. The moment it leaves my hands is only the beginning of its life. Someone else will wear it, move through the world with it, attach their own memories to it.
One day, it may be placed carefully in a box, or handed quietly from one person to another — not as a possession, but as something to be kept.
And in that moment, it becomes something more than jewellery.
It becomes a story that continues.
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