Works by
Neil Ellis Orts
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Graves Creations: Bringing the Cross into the 21st Century
By Neil Ellis Orts
Mortimer Graves of Graves Creations is turning the Christian jewelry world on its ear with his daring and controversial line of pendants, rings, and earrings. It all began when he was still struggling as a jeweler and he was showing his wife, Diana, his latest designs for crosses.
"I could tell Di wasn't excited," said Mort, as he prefers to be called. "So I asked her how I can come up with something new that will energize and excite the Christian jewelry market."
"And I said," added Diana, "'You know, crosses are just so plain. It's a shame Jesus didn't die for us on something more elaborate. You know, decorative.'"
Mort picks up the story again. "That was the catalyst. That got me to thinking. If Jesus had come to earth at any other time, he might have died by hanging or a guillotine or electric chair. Next thing I know, I'm sketching ideas for hangman's noose earrings and guillotine necklaces. It just sort of flowed."
Those sketches have flowed into what, this year, looks to be a six figure cottage industry for the Graves.
"We're just blown away by what God has done with our jewelry ministry," Mort continued. "Oh, there was some resistance in some quarters. Some people didn't get what we were doing."
"It happens to all artists," Di said.
"But we find it totally brings the cross into relevance." Mort holds up a pendant that is a stylized operating table with straps and gold filament from an I. V. drip bag. If you've seen pictures of a lethal injection execution, you get the reference immediately. "Some people have found this morbid, but I really want people to see Jesus in a modern context. Nobody dies on a cross anymore, but lethal injection… well, it contextualizes Jesus's death for the modern world." Mort looks around his displays of jewelry until he finds a nearly identical pendant. "Now I can see how this might be morbid."
"Well, it is morbid," Di said, laughing.
"But Catholics usually have Jesus on the cross."
"And we're not Catholic," Di clarified.
"No, we prefer the empty cross—or the empty gurney, if you will," Mort said.
"But well, we are a Christian ministry, and Catholics are a sort of Christian," Di said apologetically.
"So we also have a few designs that include a corpus, as they say." Mort then holds up the second pendant for closer inspection. You can see a small figure strapped to the table and the gold filament leads into the figure's arm. "The gurney design with the corpus has done well," Mort said. "The hangman's noose with corpus, less so. And I still haven't figured out how to do a guillotine design with corpus."
"So I guess we only have Protestant guillotines," Di joked.
When asked to describe their market for Graves Creations, Mort didn't hesitate. "Oh, we definitely skew to a younger demographic. The older church goers, they want pretty standard symbols: crosses, fish, doves. And, you know, that's fine. I still have some of that in my catalog and I'm not out to do away with the traditional things. But my market is the demographic that's trying to see the tradition in new symbols. That tends to be young people."
"Honey tell him about the young people we met last winter," Di interjected.
Mort chuckles at the prompt. "Well, there was one unexpected market. You know, I'd heard the word 'goth' before, but didn't really know much about it. Turns out we're attractive to goth kids because of their fascination with death."
"We never sought out that market," Di clarifies. "They found us and they do buy a lot of jewelry, but I wasn't too comfortable with it at first because, you know, they don't seem particularly Christian."
"But all our jewelry is stamped somewhere with 'John 3:16' and the box it comes in gives the full reference, so we see it as the evangelism arm of our jewelry ministry."
"Well, long story short," Di said, "last winter we were asked to a—get this—Christian Goth Assembly!"
"Caught us off guard, to be sure," Mort said, "but we went. I figured it was a chance to meet some of our customers and maybe witness to them. I mean, with their crazy white makeup and all black clothes, I just knew they had to have some twisted ideas about the Gospel. But you know what? They're good kids. I don't know I'd want my kids dressing up like that, but they get what I'm doing with my jewelry."
"We sold a lot of jewelry that week!" Di said.
"And good thing too," Mort said, chuckling again. "I read somewhere that the Christian Goth Assembly was a sign that the goth movement had run it's course, you know, that it was going out of fashion. I'm not sure what they mean by that."
"But at least we got in on it before that market disappeared!" Di concluded.
There was one other market that had been somewhat controversial, a bit surprising.
"Oh, the protesters," Di said, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, that was troubling," Mort said, "and, well, I guess I'd be making a lot more money if I'd kept my mouth shut, but I had to be clear. I didn't want our jewelry ministry misused by some bleeding hearts."
Mort and Di are referring, of course, to the controversy that arose when they discovered that many protesters at penitentiary executions were wearing their jewelry. It turned out that the anti-death penalty movement had misread the Graves' intent as being on their side, so to speak.
"I finally had to make a public statement that we supported our government's sovereign right to execute people," Mort said. "We did see a drop in business at first, but it's evened out again. The pro-death penalty camp isn't as organized, but they did come around to support our business some."
"I mean, how do we complain?" Di asked rhetorically. "We're still looking at a six-figure profit this year. So what if it's only five hundred thousand instead of six?"
"But it was scary for a bit," Mort acknowledges. "I just goes to show there's a price for standing up for what you believe in."
"It's all so crazy," Di said, noting the inherent irony in the controversy. "I mean, how can you be a Christian and against the death penalty? How would our innocent Lord ever have paid the price for our sins if not for government sanctioned executions?"
Just as this story was going to press, it was announced that next year, Graves Creations will enter the publishing field with the release of study guides to their more popular jewelry designs as well as a journal and a daily devotional, Forty Days at the Foot of the Holy Gurney.
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