This brooch is a philosophical reflection on the idea that the path to love is never straight or smooth — and it is precisely this that gives it its profound value. A rose branch, inlaid with tourmaline and rubies, embodies the fragile balance of opposites: beauty and pain, tenderness and strength, faith and fear. The thorns are not obstacles, but moments of awakening and realization. Each touch does not merely wound — it brings one back to feeling, forces a pause, a deeper awareness of one’s emotional state. These are the trials that each of us must face in order for love to become mature and real. The blood-stained fingerprints are a sign that the person is alive in their feelings — that they did not avoid pain, but embraced it as part of their growth. They did not turn away from hardship, nor shut themselves off, but walked through every challenge and kept going. Such deep inner work is what makes the heart truly capable — not only of receiving love, but of sharing it with another. “The Path to Love” is a reminder of the profound strength that lives within each of us: only by walking through the thorns, feeling the stings of emotion, and not shying away from pain, do we come closer to genuine love. Each wound teaches us to distinguish the sincere from the fleeting. And one day, after making that journey, we encounter the love that was meant for us — and we realize: every step of that path was worth it.

Moscow, 2023