Handcrafted in Vancouver and featured in our latest Fantasy issue of Sad Mag, Talia Tanaka puts a new twist on luxury and environmentally friendly.
We all have heroes in our lives that we admire immensely. It’s hard to give a gift that expresses how much someone means to you—be it your grandmother who mails you hand-knitted socks every winter even though she lives in Florida or your best friend who shows up to your house with Ben and Jerry’s, and the latest George Clooney movie because you had a bad day. These people are heroes in your eyes and you love them endlessly. Love Medal celebrates the people you love most in your life with a simple “thank you.”
Creator Talia Tanaka graduated from Emily Carr University of Art and Design before founding Love Medals. After a few years of researching jewelry ideas in Japan, Tanaka came back with the idea of Love Medals, pieces that “[celebrate] relationships amongst family, friends, lovers, and even ourselves.” Love Medals combines luxurious Japanese ribbons with ethical Canadian diamonds to create the most distinguished pieces of jewelry that are cast in 14k gold, sterling silver or bronze. She uses the highest quality materials for all her medals, necklaces, earrings, bracelets and pins while staying eco-friendly.
What first began as a company out of her parent’s basement has become a socially conscious jewelry line Tanaka is proud of. Love Medals is located in a 100-year-old studio space that is well equipped with a recycling program where materials such as wax, solutions, and metal scraps are reused, and packaging is either recycled or biodegraded. To top it all off, Love Medals refuses to use any animal based products, and plans to use reclaimed metals in the future.
Sad Mag: Your designs are very unique; we’ve never seen anything like them! How did you come up with the idea to incorporate medals in your line?
Talia Tanaka: Thank you. Well the medals are actually the core of my line and everything else is inspired from those designs. The idea for the medals came about quite simply, but grew into something much more meaningful and profound. I was living in Japan at the time and decided to start my own jewelry line. It was important for me to try and create something different and unique. I came across these vintage war medals and was instantly drawn to them. The inner ‘hippie’ in me thought, “These are great. But they should be Love Medals!” I made some quick sketches in my book, and when revisiting them later, began to see a much larger intention behind the idea.
I truly believe love is what makes the world go ’round. We are all here to learn how to Love, which is not necessarily an easy thing to do! Love is not just a romantic notion, but also one of acceptance, patience, peace and understanding. Love Medals are a special way to acknowledge appreciation for all those things with the people we care about.
SM: We noticed you donate some of your profits to Invisible Children why is this foundation important to you?
TT: There are many, many issues that are important to me, but Invisible Children was a good place to start. Part of Invisible Children’s objective is to stop the abduction of young African children for use as ‘child soldiers’. These children are forced to do horrific things and many suffer completely meaningless deaths. There’s a natural alignment between what Love Medals stands for and what Invisible Children hopes to achieve.
SM: Your line celebrates heroes, who do you consider the hero(es) in your life?
TT: That’s a great question! My personal definition of a hero is someone who actively and continuously challenges themselves to evolve past their own mental, physical and/or spiritual ‘limitations’, and is successful in doing so. I believe life presents all of us with opportunities to accept that challenge, and it’s not any easy task should we choose to accept. So I have great respect for anyone who takes on that journey. They are my heroes and inspiration. And of course my partner and my son, who motivate me to be the best I can be.
Love Medals has a blog called ‘Love Medal of Valour’ that reveals local heroes in the community who are socially conscious. In honour of all their hard work and outstanding help, they are awarded with a Love Medal Star lapel pin. If you have someone in your community that is deserving of a prestigious pin, please visit the Love Medals website or follow Love Medals on Facebook, and Twitter