The most beautiful of gifts ...

Some events in your life seem insignificant and only make sense years later; it took me 20 years to realize.  

This little millefiori bead bracelet looks like nothing special. It is incomplete and cannot be worn as it is. Other beads seem to have been lost in this bracelet or added at random, from different eras. Perhaps salvaged from a broken bracelet. To be honest, I will never know.

I am beginning to recognize more and more of the beads, and the orange ones must be coral, while the blue one, I would say, is glass. But I have my doubts about the millefiori!

Are they antique or contemporary beads? I kept this bracelet for 20 years without really asking myself any questions. Knowing me, I must have changed its storage place several times during my moves and new home arrangements; from one box to another. But I never paid much attention to this bracelet. What you should know is that I am one of those people who attach sentimental value to most of the objects I own, so obviously I had not forgotten it, but it was not at all on my mind.

My maternal grandmother was a woman of great elegance, always impeccably dressed. The realities of the diaspora mean that I knew her without actually sharing a daily life with her or seeing her regularly.

   When we had the opportunity to see her, she was delighted to be able to make up for the moments lost to distance. One day, she decided to give us gifts and gave my sisters two almost identical presents (I no longer remember exactly what they were). She did not have a third one for me, so she told me she would give me something else. She was already old and no longer worked. She searched through her belongings and came to me with two gifts; and what gifts they were!

   First, a small piece of Kente fabric, traditionally woven, and then this bracelet. I thanked her. She gave me some explanation about the fabric, but I really have no memory of what she said about the bracelet, and quite honestly, I simply put everything away in my belongings without really asking myself any questions.

   In 2017, I began to take an interest in African beads, buying and selling them, and then creating them. Then I understood the richness of these beads, learned about the origin of Krobo beads, discovered trade beads, and began to delve into all this history, without ever thinking about my grandmother's gift.

It was only last year, while organizing my belongings, that I came across it again and realized that every millimeter had taken on a different meaning and that I recognized the millefiori beads. But what a gift, what a guiding thread for my life!!! If my grandmother knew that beads are now a passion of mine, she would be twice as delighted. I want to tell her up there: “Grandma, you were not mistaken; these beads fill my life with joy, and my only regret is that I can no longer talk to you about them.”

This brings us to another essential point: traditionally, these beads are not sold; they are passed down within families.