Each season, customers ask us the same question: “How do you come up with a new snowflake every year?”

It's a fair question. The Annual Breakell Snowflake Collection has been running since 1994 — thirty-two years of designs, each one distinct, each one handcrafted in sterling silver. After that many years, you might expect the well to run dry. It hasn't. Here's why.

It Starts with the Real Thing

Before a sketch is made or a theme is chosen, the design process begins with nature itself. Our design team often keeps the work of Wilson Bentley nearby as a starting point — the Vermont farmer who, in 1885, became the first person ever to successfully photograph a snowflake under a microscope.

Bentley called snowflakes "nature's wonder gems," possessing "an infinity of beauty," and wrote that when they fell, "the mysteries of the upper air are about to reveal themselves.” Over forty years, he photographed thousands of individual snowflakes, perfecting innovative photomicrographic techniques and building what became invaluable scientific records of snow crystals and their many types. Five hundred of those photographs now reside in the Smithsonian Institution Archives — an institution with its own meaningful connection to the Breakell story.

From Nature to Meaning

In the early years, inspiration was often drawn from the surrounding New England landscape—coastal forms, local landmarks and symbolism, and familiar motifs that reflected a strong sense of place.

Over time, that perspective has expanded. Today, each snowflake begins with a broader question: What feeling defines this moment?

The answer becomes the theme and the theme becomes the design challenge. Rather than focusing on a single location, the designs now explore more universal themes; ideas that resonate across traditions, families, and generations, while still maintaining the craftsmanship and intention the collection is known for.

The Design Process

A snowflake has rules: hexagonal symmetry, radial balance, repeating forms. Working within those constraints while expressing something as abstract as "hope" or "peace" is the creative challenge at the heart of each year's design.

Using the same lost wax casting method practiced in fine jewelry for centuries, every curve and detail is tested before a drop of silver is ever poured. At this scale, a millimeter of difference changes everything. The finished piece is cast in sterling silver, hand-finished by skilled artisans, and carefully inspected before it enters the collection where it becomes available as an ornament, pendant, earrings, charm, and pin.

Why It Still Matters

Thirty-two years in, the Annual Snowflake Collection endures because it keeps its promise: every year, something genuinely new, a new idea, a new form, a new meaning.

It's a process that blends artistry with restraint. The goal isn't just to create something beautiful — it's to create something that lasts.

Explore our entire snowflake ornament collection and choose a year that holds special meaning to you.

Historical references:

Smithsonian Institution Archives https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/stories/wilson-bentley-pioneering-photographer-snowflakes

Smithsonian Magazine https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/these-15-stunning-microscopic-snowflake-images-helped-change-the-way-we-see-the-world-180987978/