A very old way of saying something.

The spoon that said it for you

In Wales, a young man would spend long evenings carving a spoon from a single piece of wood and give it to the person he hoped to marry. Nobody could eat with it. The handle was too fine and too full of symbols: a heart, a key, a horseshoe, a run of chain links, sometimes an anchor or a pair of birds. Each one stood for something he wanted to say. The custom goes back at least to the seventeenth century, and lovespoons are still given today for weddings, anniversaries, new homes and new babies.

ELQUVANI takes those symbols off the spoon and puts them where people can wear them. We are a small online shop, and we keep things simple: nine symbols, five meanings, and a card in every box that explains what each symbol has traditionally stood for.

What the pieces are made of

Our jewellery is 18K gold-plated 316L stainless steel. That means a stainless steel piece with a thin layer of 18K gold on the surface. It is not solid gold, and we never describe it as gold jewellery without saying so. Stainless steel keeps its shape, does not tarnish the way silver does, and keeps the price of a meaningful gift within reach; the plating softens with wear over the years, especially with water, perfume and creams.

Our pocket lovespoons are small wooden spoons with the symbols laser-engraved down the handle and finished with oil. Traditional spoons were carved by hand; ours are not, and we say so on every page where they appear.

The card in the box

Every piece comes with a small cream card for each symbol it carries: the symbol on the front, its traditional meaning on the back, and space for your own words. The meanings are the ones most widely given for the lovespoon tradition. Sources do not always agree, so we write “traditionally stands for”: a symbol does not bring luck or keep anyone safe, but it can say that you hope it will.

Build your own line-up

On a lovespoon the order of the symbols matters, so we let you choose it. With Build-a-Spoon you pick two, three or four symbols from those in stock, set them top to bottom and choose a chain length. We link them into a drop that ends in a tiny spoon bowl. We do not engrave names or make pieces from drawings; everything is put together from the charms we already have, which keeps delivery quick and returns simple.

What we will not claim

• We say plainly where our pieces come from and how they are made: a modern, affordable take on an old custom, not a copy of a traditional carved spoon.
• We only make claims about skin or metal content that our supplier’s test reports support.
• We do not invent customer comments or a history for the brand.

If you have a question about any of this, write to us. We answer every message ourselves.