Copenhagen-based company Pandora Jewellery has released a new range based around the art of Macramé. This unusual twist on the classic Pandora look combines a traditional style with a place to securely hold and display your most precious charm beads.

In the Western Hemisphere, macramé is believed to have originated with 13th-century Arab weavers. These artisans knotted the excess thread and yarn along the edges of hand-loomed fabrics into decorative fringes on bath towels, shawls, and veils. The Spanish word macramé is derived from the Arabic migramah (مقرمة), believed to mean "embroidered veil". After the Moorish conquest, the art was taken to Spain, and then spread through Europe. It was introduced into England at the court of Mary II in the late 17th century.

The Pandora Jewellery range of Macramé bracelets offer a rainbow-like palette of colours including black, khaki, red, beige, grey, orange and pink. Their stylish aesthetic is completed by lashings of either 14ct Gold or 925 Hallmarked Sterling Silver on the ends of the bracelet. Ancient but modern, each finely detailed Pandora Jewellery macramé bracelets take three hours to complete. The bracelets can be adorned with a single bead or clip, giving the opportunity for the wearer to feature a particular favourite such as a golden or gem studded piece.

Macramé consists of square knots and forms of "hitching": the full hitch and double half hitches. It was a traditional craft carried out by sailors in off hours while at sea, and sold or bartered when they landed. Some of the items made their way back to the sailors’ homeland and were kept as keepsakes by loved ones who remained on land. This art form provided an elaborate decoration for anything from knife handles to bottles to parts of ships.

These particular Pandora Jewellery bracelets are designed to be evocative of the handmade friendship bracelets often exchanged amongst schoolchildren. The style became extremely popular during the Victorian era with many houses being adorned in Macramé. It regained popularity amongst the American neo-hippie and grunge crowd, starting in the early 1970’s as a reaction against the perceived destruction of traditional skills by the march of mechanisation.

Whatever the inspiration for the return of this classic look, it is sure to join previous Pandora Jewellery collections in being worn by the many devoted collectors of the brand which continues to grow rapidly since its 2007 UK debut.