Just a few weeks after the thrill of seeing Wendy Whelan wearing my earrings, I got a call from a friend, "I'm watching a documentary about the Little Prince and one of the experts is wearing your necklace!"
I have to admit that I doubted her, but after getting off the phone I turned on Netflix and found Invisible Essence, the film she had called about.
I started watching and shortly into the film, there it was — the Morse Code necklace, worn by Pulitzer Price winning author Stacy Schiff. My friend has a good eye!
The film is beautiful and interesting and I was struck by the fact that like my grandfather Garth Williams, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry came to the United States to get away from the war in Europe. He arrived in New York in late 1940, and my grandfather landed in 1941.
It turns out that The Little Prince was written and illustrated by Saint-Exupéry during his time in America. It was published in 1943, just two years before the release of Stuart Little by E.B. White with illustrations by my grandfather.
Other children's books being written at the time were the Mary Poppins and Tolkien series. I had no idea that so many children's classics were written during that era.
Later in the film there is a panning shot of the necklace against Stacy Schiff's dress. It's wonderful to see a piece that I built by hand looking so good out there in the world, and being noticed so carefully by the filmmaker.
I always feel lucky and grateful to do the work I do. Watching that scene is about as satisfying as this work gets.
Yes, it is lovely to see your work so well shown on a plain dark dress. No doubt there are more of your pieces to be discovered in surprising circumstances. Hope so. Fiona