Behind the Loved & Chosen Collection
For birthdays, I sometimes like to create homemade gifts. I love the idea of being able to offer something that I imagined and created myself, rather than just choosing a gift from a store. That is exactly how the Loved & Chosen collection was born.
For this gift, I wanted to create something that was more than just an object. I wanted it to carry a message of encouragement and remind the person receiving it of their value. I then asked myself: what does the Bible say about how God sees us? What does it say about our value, about being loved, and about our identity?
It was in this search that I arrived at Isaiah 43:4, "Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life." Then at Colossians 3:12, "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."
The phrase from Isaiah expressed exactly what I was looking to convey: you are precious. But throughout this reflection, I realized that this message was also for me. It also reminded me of my value in God's eyes. Thus, while searching for what God says about our value, our identity, and how He sees us, my own perspective began to change. It was no longer just a message I wanted to convey to someone else. It was also a truth I needed to remind myself of: I, too, am loved, chosen, and precious in God's eyes.
It was from there that the two ideas that would become the heart of the design really took on their full meaning: being loved and being chosen by God.
Once the message was found, however, I did not just want to write Loved & Chosen. Even though this expression perfectly summarized the idea, I wanted to find a slightly different way to present it, a phrasing that kept the same message while giving the design its own identity.
I then started thinking about the different languages I loved and could integrate into the concept. Spanish naturally came to mind. I really love this language, and I also liked the idea of creating something that would bring together the three languages that hold a special place in my world: French, English, and Spanish.
The main design would therefore bear an expression in Spanish, accompanied by verses in French and English. The expression "to be loved and chosen" naturally became amado/amada and elegido/elegida. That is where I wanted to create a version intended for men and another intended for women.
I also wanted to make the same design in French and English, by interchanging the languages in which the verses would be written, according to what spoke to me the most. But after careful consideration, I found that the French version "aimé et choisi" did not speak to me as much. I therefore decided to limit myself to Spanish and English.
For the English, I wanted to keep the same message while giving the design its own wording. Rather than simply using Loved & Chosen, I chose Chosen & Dearly Loved. The word dearly adds a nuance that I particularly loved. It expresses the idea of being deeply and preciously loved. This aligns with the heart of the message that had given birth to the design: we are precious in the eyes of God.
The collection thus took three forms:
Amado y Elegido
Amada y Elegida
Chosen & Dearly Loved
Three phrasings, several languages, but one and the same truth:
You are chosen.
You are loved.
You are precious in the eyes of God.
What had started as the idea for a homemade gift has thus become a creation that I could now share with others. That is also what I like about creation: an idea can start with a very simple intention, then take a form that can speak to many more people.
With Loved & Chosen, I simply wanted to create something that could remind us of a truth we sometimes need to hear over and over again: our value does not depend on the gaze of others.
We are precious in the eyes of God.
We are loved by Him.
And we are chosen.
It is this truth that lies behind the Loved & Chosen collection.
Discover the Loved & Chosen collection
— HH