Blowing out candles, tossing a coin into a well, catching a falling leaf, spotting a shooting star. Making a wish is ancient and universal. It’s the stuff of fairytales: of gleaming oil lamps and ruby slippers tapped thrice. And yet the magic of wishing endures well into adulthood. Whether floating on the feathers of a dandelion or manifested in ink, to paraphrase Rodgers and Hammerstein, if you don’t have a wish, how you gonna have a wish come true?

Since 1986, the real-life genies behind Make-A-Wish UK have granted the wishes of thousands of critically ill children. From trips to Disneyland to being a princess for a day, these wishes bring joy to families whose lives have been upended. Its life-enhancing work is supported by Art of Wishes, a charity established in 2017 by the art collector and philanthropist Batia Ofer. Through its annual auctions and partnerships with artists including Tracey Emin, Michael Landy and Jenny Saville, Art of Wishes has raised over £13 million, helping to fund over 5,000 wishes. This year, Carolina Bucci has joined forces with the charity by creating three special-edition silver Lucky bracelets: for each sold, £100 will be donated to Art of Wishes.

“I’ve always been a big fan and supporter of Art of Wishes; it’s genuine and creative,” says Carolina. “When we started talking about doing something together, it felt incredibly natural. There are many synergies between my designs and the ethos of the charity.” Wishing is, after all, tied into the fabric of the Lucky bracelet, which launched in 2003, inspired by the colourful friendship bracelets of Carolina’s childhood.

“The Lucky bracelet was the starting point of my brand,” she says. “At that time, the concept of spiritual or emotional jewellery did not exist in the world of fine jewellery. The Lucky bracelet combines precious gold with silk, and there is no clasp: instead, it is tied onto the wrist with a double knot. My vision was always that the wearer would make a wish as the bracelet was tied, and that spirit seemed to resonate with our clients.”

The eight original Lucky bracelets were adorned with charms based on Carolina’s hand-drawn illustrations: a heart for Love, an eye for Protection, a flower for Friendship and so on. Over two decades, the Lucky collection has grown to encompass 28 bracelets and charms, each symbolising a different wish.

This year, Carolina has ceded creative control for the first time, as the new Lucky bracelets were dreamed up by three children whose wishes have been granted by Make-A-Wish UK.

In January, 12-year-old Noah Wilsdon, 15-year-old Emily Kellett and 10-year-old Rosie Matthews travelled to the Carolina Bucci boutique in Belgravia to become jewellery designers for a day, with carte blanche to dream up their own Lucky bracelets. Adopting Carolina’s freewheeling approach to design, the children scribbled and sketched their charm ideas. Carolina flicks through their scrapbooks as she explains each design. 

Noah decided to do a lion, picking out orange, yellow and grey silk to represent the Big Cat’s impressive mane. It represents Courage and is testament to Noah’s own bravery in the face of his complex lung condition.

Emily, who lives with a rare metabolic disorder called Argininosuccinic aciduria, arrived dressed head-to-toe in her favourite colour, pink, down to the last accessory. No surprise that she gravitated towards a hot-pink silk Lucky bracelet, finished with a peony flower charm, symbolising Magic. And Rosie, whose sister Evie suffers with an ultra-rare genetic disorder and was sadly too ill to travel, settled on a dove, representing Hope: such an essential trait for every Make-A-Wish child and their family.

The children’s drawings were faithfully turned into silver charms by Carolina’s craftspeople in Florence, and the Make-A-Wish Lucky bracelets will launch on April 29th, Global Wish Day. They will be for sale until the end of 2025. “The idea is to sell as many as possible, to make as many wishes as possible come true,” says Carolina, for whom the charity’s work strikes a deeply emotional cord. “Some of the children’s wishes are quite extravagant: they’ll wish to go to the moon, or for a pet unicorn, for example. But many of them are so simple; things we might take for granted. They might wish to go to the cinema, or for a walk in the park. It’s humbling. And it makes it even more magical when we can make their wishes happen.”

There’s science behind wishing too. Research carried out by Make-A-Wish International in 2024 found that 97% of children felt more joyful after their wish was fulfilled, and 93% of families said their wish brought their family closer together. Nine out of ten children agreed that the wish helped them to look forward and broaden their horizons; while nine out of ten parents said the wish provided respite and distraction for their child.

“Every child deserves a childhood which isn’t defined by illness,” says Batia Ofer. “A wish gives them the opportunity to be children again; it turns their dreams into a reality and brings hope and joy to the whole family at a time when they need it most. I have seen first-hand the magic that is created when a child’s wish is fulfilled. It is nothing short of miraculous.”

Carolina is also a firm believer in the power of wishing. In 2023, to celebrate the Lucky bracelet’s 20th anniversary, she installed a wishing wall in an empty shop opposite her boutique: anybody could come along, write a wish on a card and stick it to the wall. “We received all sorts of wishes; ranging from ‘I wish for Coldplay tickets,’ to ‘I hope that person asks me out,’ to ‘I really want my sick aunt to feel better,’” she says. She chose one wish, a parent’s dream to take their child to Disneyland, and made it happen. 

And last year, as she sent her son off to college, she commissioned a cake featuring all the Lucky charms, and asked her Instagram followers to share their wishes for the future. The winning wisher received two Lucky bracelets — one to keep, one for a friend. “I deeply believe in the power of sending good energy out into the world; I always told my boys to believe that today will be a good day. And that idea is embedded into my jewellery, especially the Lucky bracelet,” says Carolina.

The good fortune works both ways. In 2010, Carolina created special-edition Lucky bracelets to raise over $100,000 for (PRODUCT) RED, which works to eliminate AIDS in Africa. And since 2020, sales of the paper-plane Lucky bracelet have helped to raise £175,000 for Re-Engage, a charity devoted to reducing loneliness in later life. Now, the Make-A-Wish Lucky bracelets are an everlasting testament to a lucky day not only for Noah, Emily and Rosie, but for thousands of other children who deserve to rediscover the magic and joy that comes from making a wish.