Philosophy
Humans made jewelry before they made history.*
The oldest jewelry: A string of perforated shells, discovered in modern-day Morocco over 150,000 years ago **. Simple, functional, and a bit playful.
We want to revive that spirit, 150,000 years later. Welcome to the world of Deova!
We celebrate the dimensionality of being human – whimsy, wonder, playfulness, but also intentionality, practicality, purpose – by blending it with an art practice that predates written human history: jewelry. Our pieces are cast in 10k neutral gold to play between gold and silver, and adhere to a strict design philosophy to create pieces that feel good to wear, yet allow you to express your individual spunk.
* History meaning written history, which only takes us back ~5000 years! Fun fact: Our ‘cousins’, Neanderthals, also made and wore jewelry!
** Source publication (in case you want additional fun reading)
Materials
All of our items are made in 10-karat gold. Our 10k alloy was intentionally selected for its 'not-too-warm-yet-not-too-cool' champagne hue to serve as the perfect go-between silver and traditional yellow gold. Try stacking it with either metal, it blends beautifully! From there, it’s your playground of designs to choose from that speak to you.
10-karat gold is fine, solid gold. It’s well suited to move with your everyday life, and does not tarnish / ‘change color’ with wear.
As you wear our pieces daily, they'll develop a natural patina unique to you over time.
AAPI - Founded
A note from the founder, Brittany Lai
I am sincerely grateful you’ve chosen to enter the world of Deova. I am a Vietnamese American, and my culture (as well as many other Asian cultures) carries the indoctrination that gold jewelry is valuable. That when currency is weak and confidence in institutions is low, you turn to gold as an investment haven. This is historically correct - I’m not arguing against it. But, jewelry is too old an art form to be reduced to just an investment vehicle. Also - it’s just darn beautiful to look at and adorn yourself with. I created the world of Deova to stress test this mold: not break it per se (because material weight, feel, and value do matter), but more so test how much subtle playfulness we could sneak into said-metaphorical mold.
‘Deova’ comes from the Vietnamese words ‘đeo và’, meaning ‘wear and.’ Which, is a true, very matter-of-fact distillation of the brand’s identity: this is more than just “wearing jewelry.”
