by Brooke Bobb– Vogue
It all started with a special piece of heirloom jewelry. Madeline Relph fell in love with a gold scorpion pendant handed down to her boyfriend, Jye Taylor, by his great-grandfather. The Australian couple had already established a successful tattoo shop on the island of Bali, where they live, but Relph felt pulled in another direction after seeing that necklace. “The idea just sparked,” she explains. “I wanted to re-create Jye’s granddad’s pendant, but with a unique design for each star sign.” Last month, they officially launched their own line of 18k gold and sterling silver astrological necklaces called Mercii. Available online for $110 each, the line’s necklaces have already attracted upwards of 200,000 Instagram followers and received a very special shout-out from Kendall Jenner when she posted about her own Mercii necklace last week.
Relph and Taylor worked with a graphic designer to create the signs and incorporated them into a circular design that is meant to have a vintage feel. Each necklace comes with a detailed description of your sign because Relph, a self-professed “star-sign nerd,” believes in the importance of understanding and harnessing your cosmic strengths and weaknesses, especially at a time when the world (and especially America) feels on the brink of chaos. “I really think we are a generation of people who want to know more and seek a higher truth,” Relph says. “We love learning, growing, and connecting.” She adds, “As crazy as it sounds, we are made of water, and the moon controls the tides, so astrology really does affect us. I feel that 2018 has been a huge year of self-development for everyone. We are all trying to find our true selves, and we’re looking for answers to tough questions. When you read about your star sign, you can not only connect with the character inside of yourself, but you can also have a little lighthearted laugh at some of the traits you maybe don’t always love to acknowledge.”