By MARINA RYBAK

The journey through creative process where a conceptual idea is transformed into a tangible physical reality is an opportunity to experience magic in action. Creating things with your hands within a virtual universe of the development process is the pathway to its artistic origins.

Once I was rewarded with a sumptuous rooftop garden in the middle of Manhattan. I eagerly immersed my hands into the dirt. The process of gardening was a constant reminder of many treasures, dug from the giving, infinitely abundant Earth. Impatient to see the fruits of my labors, I reengaged the artisan within me and the "BACK TO EARTH" jewelry series was born.

My Golden Egg pendant has risen from the fragmented childhood memory of Russian fables and reflections on the mythical Hero’s Journey applied to the daily experience.

As in any myth or fairy tale the Hero is initiated into the perilous journey to the distant land with the task to retrieve the Golden Egg and safely bring it back home. Supposedly, it is locked far away in the treasure chest, guarded by the most fearful forces imaginable. The Hero overcomes tremendous odds in its pursuit and ultimately is victorious.

The Golden Egg is a subtle reminder of our own transformational journeys. We are all Heroes in our personal fairy tale and after all there is nothing to seek or search for - the Golden Egg is in our core.

When we are attuned to the design aesthetic of relaxed luxury, having the taste for the finer things in life, we may refine our choices, reflecting on the importance of comfort as one of our main influences. According to Coco Chanel "luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury. And according to one of the dictionary definitions of luxury, it is "a pleasure out of the ordinary allowed to oneself".

The pleasure of comfort was considered an extraordinary indulgence and a pioneering idea not so long ago. One of the undercurrents for equality, the awareness of comfort as the state of being, to which we are entitled to, appeared on the horizon of the corset-clad history only at the turn of the nineteenth century.

A natural impulse of being comfortable in our bodies is intimately intertwined with the desire to be comfortable in our mind and our heart. The desire to be comfortable in our skin inspires us to discover our natural state and who we genuinely are. It strengthens our core. It encourages us to leap outside the box and spread our wings.

Intuitively, it guides us to relax into our own personal bliss and the absolute truth of our authentic Selves. When we experience the sensory or the spiritual pleasure of the inner comfort, we are sunlit by our own magnificence. Unrestricted, liberated and free, we step comfortably into our own Limelight.