For Mother, Always

There are collections you design because you believe they will be beautiful.

And then there are the ones you carry with you for years, waiting until you are finally ready to make them.

The Magnolia Collection is that collection for me.

Fifty-six years ago this month, my mother walked down the aisle carrying magnolias.

She had grown up in Hickory, North Carolina, and on the morning of her August wedding, her younger brothers climbed the magnificent magnolia tree at their mother’s home to gather blooms for her bouquet.

Years later, another magnolia tree grew outside my parents’ Virginia home. Every summer, Mother would cut those enormous white blooms and bring them inside. She loved the way they looked in the house, and somewhere along the way, I began to associate magnolias with her.

With home.

With the particular kind of beauty she taught me to notice.

B. Rowe & Co. was named for my mother, Beverly Rowe, and from the very beginning, I knew there would someday be a magnolia collection.

But I never wanted to design a literal flower and call it sentimental. She deserved more than that.

I wanted to capture what I remember about her magnolias—the sculptural petals, the quiet elegance, the strength beneath something so beautiful. I wanted the pieces to feel Southern without becoming predictable, feminine without becoming precious, and timeless enough to be worn for years.

So I kept waiting.

And sketching.

And putting it away.

And coming back to it.

Now, after losing Mother, I understand why I could never quite finish it before.

I wasn't simply designing jewelry inspired by a magnolia.

I was designing her collection.

The first pieces of The Magnolia Collection are coming soon to B. Rowe & Co., and they are, without question, the most important pieces I have ever designed.

They are a tribute to the woman whose name is on this company, whose sense of beauty shaped so much of mine, and whose magnolias will forever remind me of home.

I wish more than anything that she were here to see them.

But perhaps, in a way, she has been part of their design all along.

For Mother. Always.

With grace,
Emily

B. Rowe & Co.
Designed in Virginia, where the South meets the shore™