Waking early, I went up to Monreale, the beautiful Norman cathedral on the hill above Palmero. As I stepped out onto the piazza, the cathedral stood triumphant. Before the doors opened, I walked up and down past the railings outside that were decorated with a series of circles with winged tips where the circles met. Imagining a flight of angels, my Volo d'Angelo was thought up. In my Volo d'Angelo jewels I set lapis lazuli, garnets and diamonds where the circles joined in necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

Sapphire occurs in Sri Lanka, Australia and Myanmar and varies in its often velvet like colour from colourless to blue, pink, yellow, green and purple hues. Cassandra often finds unusual colours and cuts on her travels and she particularly loves the rarer green sapphires. Sapphire, the stone is associated with wisdom and is the birthstone for September.