Awhile back, I came across the clover motif a couple of times, one in my clients jewelry design, Melissa Zriny, also with an image that my friend, Erin Mechem Mundy, posted from her business trip from Siena in 2016. Erin is a talented accessories and fashion designer, for M. Gemi hand crafted accessories from Italy, and her own line Rettig. She took one shot in particular that made me think about the clover motif in architecture and how it appears in design from leather goods, jewelry to stationery. It dates back to ancient times around 850 BC, seen on Olmec and Mayan monuments. The quatrefoil, from the latin term, meaning 4 leafs, and the ancients believed it to be the opening of the cosmic central axis at the crossroads of the four directions, representing the passageway between the celestial and the underworld. It is illuminating to know that such symbols from ancient times still permeate our culture, the meaning is there if one looks to shed light on it.
