Serpents © 2019 illustration TVRRINI

The grass is always greener

Snakes illustration for TVRRINI Regal Fantasy campaign 2019

Snakes original artwork for Regal Fantasy Collection campaign © 2019 illustration TVRRINI

Summer is often a time for us to plant new seeds to nurture ourselves. That is where the colour green becomes ideal for inspiration as we discover the relationship between healing, renewal, and moving forward. In this post, we examine ways in which green is an important force for reflection.

Green can help enhance a sense of stability and endurance. When our eyes see tropical leaves, or any type of leaf, the most prominent colour in nature often conveys the calmness that humans seem to desire as an antidote to chaos. Phrases such as “the grass is always greener (on the other side)” has become a famous saying because it hints at a very human desire for continuous improvement. 

Like other colours, green carries a more mysterious symbolic value. Certain animals can live among plants in an almost undetectable manner for prey that comes along. Two examples, the green python of New Guinea and the emerald boa of South America resemble each other and are difficult to tell apart. These two serpents live in high treetops in tropical forests where they essentially prey on birds. It is an explicit display for survival of the fittest. And so, these serpents make excellent predators with their camouflage bodies.

Some of us believe that green gemstones help to create balance as jewellery. Besides emeralds, this includes tourmaline, green sapphire, peridot, malachite, and more. The shown verdelite (green tourmaline) from our gemstone collection is a fine example of birefringence, in which colours appear to vary depending on the viewing angle. If you look down on it in one direction for this one, it's either yellow or blue. The other side will look green, making for a more complex colour from the face-up.

Emerald-Cut Verdelite from TVRRINI gemstone collection
Green tourmaline, also known as verdelite from in-house designers' gemstone collection © 2019 photography TVRRINI
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The conscious person may realise that green stands for both innocence and growth. In spring, when plants regrow in large numbers after the cold winter months, fields can be a magnificent view; and a breathe of fresh air. So, it is probably unsurprising that many authors around the world have written extensively about green. As a well-known example, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda showed his love of different colours with a pure kind of fascination and as the following poem reveals, nature can be full of surprises:

When all turned to altitude,
altitude,
altitude,
the emerald was waiting for it in the cold:
an emerald perspective;
an eye
whose fixed gaze
was the center of heaven
the emerald 
fastened its gaze:
anomalous, hard, gigantically green,
like the eye
of the ocean,
an immovable eye in the water, 
a drop of the godhead, cold
triumph, green tower.*

 

In this poem, emeralds might represent the endurance of human beings. The third-person narrator and mysterious images together create a tone of optimism and wonder, as if the emerald carries unexampled force to reach the soul. By this powerful idea, Neruda hints at the potential creativity that we are capable of using if we allow it. That is a curiosity to observe.

The beauty of a colour is how subjective it can be for different people. Around the world, green is revered for its associations to nature, clarity, or mystery depending on the context. There is little wonder why artists and poets like Neruda might use green for creative purposes, allowing you to step into a sense of its grandeur.  

What does "green" make you think about? We invite you to share ideas about the colour and start a conversation with our designers.

*Neruda, Pablo, Late and Posthumous Poems, 1968-1974, ed. and trans. by Ben Bilett (New York: Grove Press, 1988) 82-83.

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If you would like to share comments or questions about this article, you can get in touch with us at info@tvrrini.com. We will aim to reply to you within 2-3 working days.

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