Description
Rows of folding chairs, a breeze tugging at gowns, the long wait through names beginning with A, B and C. Then a voice from the stage calls out one particular name, and somewhere in the third row a mother who swore she would not cry reaches for a tissue anyway. Beside her, a little brother pretends to be bored and claps louder than anyone. Afterwards, hats fly into the air and nobody can find the right one again, which nobody minds at all.
This piece holds the whole of that moment. A stack of books, worn smooth by imagined late nights and early exams, is crowned with a graduation cap, and a small porcelain diploma can be lifted away and set back again. It belongs on the desk of a new graduate setting out on a first job, or on the bookcase of the parents who quietly sacrificed to get them there. For a lifelong reader, it doubles as a tribute to every book that made the degree possible.
A closer look
- Depicts a pile of books topped with a mortarboard
- Includes a removable porcelain diploma
- Measures 2 x 1.5 x 2 inches
- Book spines and cap painted in rich academic tones
- A Rochard design, hand-painted on Limoges porcelain in France
Hide a note inside with the date of the ceremony, so the memory stays tucked away safely with the diploma. It suits high school, college and postgraduate milestones alike.
