Jewelry made of birth control pills has a message
The Plain Dealer
Jesse Tinsley
Plain Dealer Reporter
Jewelry with a message crafted by Cleveland artist Christopher Sweiger is redefining “fashion statement.”
Sweiger, owner of Artifactual Creations, has teamed with Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland to produce UnderCover jewelry – a line of jewelry made with expired birth control pills.
The idea behind the stylish resin-encased pills dangling from ears and necks came about by accident for Sweiger – a lifelong artist who began making jewelry two years ago.
His roommate, a volunteer for Planned Parenthood, asked him to toss a handful of her expired birth control pills into a few pieces of jewelry for a raffle at the clinic’s fund-raiser.
Planned Parenthood liked the jewelry so much that it entered into a contract with Sweiger, who has now produced a line of 22 UnderCover styles that are selling nationwide.
“All of a sudden, people are calling us out of nowhere . . . from Alaska, Idaho and California,” said Emily Thome, development coordinator for Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland.
Nearly 1,000 necklaces and earrings bearing the tiny colored pills have been sold at Planned Parenthood clinics here and through its Web site all over the country.
The jewelry makes a “quiet statement” and often inspires dialogue ranging from women’s access to healthcare to political and social questions about free choice and civil rights.
“There is a whole political side to our cause,” said Thome, who said she has received only positive reaction from others about UnderCover jewelry.
She said Planned Parenthood “decided it would be a unique way for people to make a statement about access to women’s health, specifically birth control.”
