Our Story

ABOUT OFFERINGS JEWELRY

OfferingsJewelry.com is a secure shopping web site devoted exclusively to offering sterling silver hand crafted and hand finished jewelry, designed by Marianna and Richard Jacobs and produced by master jewelers in Bali, Indonesia and Jaipur India. The Offerings Jewelry retail store in Putney, Vermont is open Monday - Saturday 10AM - 6PM and Sunday 11AM - 5PM. For directions and details, please follow this "Hours and Directions" link.

Offerings History

In 1987, newly wed Marianna and Richard Jacobs lived in a thatched roof bamboo house in the rice paddies of Bali, Indonesia. As a graduate student at Yale School of Art, Richard Jacobs won a Luce Scholarship to paint and teach in Bali, Indonesia. Marianna spent the year studying dance and working in a silver factory, creating jewelry and learning the ancient secrets of the Balinese master silversmiths.

One of the many aspects of Balinese culture that influenced the Jacobs was the daily tradition of making exquisite "offerings" to appease the gods and to create balance. These "offerings" can be as simple as a few flower petals with rice and incense in a palm leaf. For a temple ceremony, it is common to see a line of women walking to temple with ornate floral and fruit "offerings" stacked up to six feet high on top of their heads. The Balinese word for "Offerings" is "Sajen" which is the trademark of our jewelry.

The Jacobs also work in Jaipur, India which is one of the oldest and most respected jewelry manufacturing cities in the world. The Jacobs are very interested in the similarities and differences between the Hindu traditions of the Indian and Balinese cultures. In Jaipur, our  jewelry business has helped support 10 beautiful and loving adopted orphan girls. “Being part of their lives has been the most rewarding part of our our time in India”.

The Jacobs consider their endeavor a collaboration between themselves as designers who hand draw every design, and the incredible jewelers in Bali and Jaipur, as well as  Mother Earth as the source of the beautiful healing stones they use in their jewelry. Marianna's lifelong interest in studying indigenous cultures and their spiritual and healing beliefs informs her as a designer.  She has found her knowledge of stones, combined with ancient healing traditions from Bali, India and Peru, to be effective and rewarding in helping others. Marianna also practices the healing techniques of the Andean Shamans from Peru.

Marianna and Richard agree that the "Offerings" family of silversmiths , gemstone cutters and carvers, jewelry producers, customers and collectors, they have been fortunate to meet and work with all over the world "have enriched our artistry and our lives"