Avari - Lapis Lazuli and Black Tourmaline Silver Earrings

From the Mehr collection by Orah Jewels and Crafts, Avari carries one of the most historically weighted stones in the world alongside a striking contrast in black. Lapis lazuli sourced from Afghanistan's ancient mineral seams is set beside black tourmaline from Skardu Valley within a hammered sterling silver form, a pairing of raw geological depth and considered metalwork that references the civilization that gave lapis its name while grounding the piece in Pakistan's own mineral landscape.

Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan is among the most prized in the world, extracted from the mountains of Badakhshan in a region that has supplied the stone continuously for over six thousand years. Its color, a dense, saturated blue threaded with veins of golden pyrite, is not replicated by any other material on earth. The blue does not sit on the surface, it reads from within, the way light enters deep water. The pyrite inclusions are not flaws. They are the record of the stone's formation, iron sulfide crystallizing alongside the lazurite under pressure and heat, and in Avari they catch light in the way a fleck of gold catches it at the edge of a dusk sky.

Black tourmaline, known mineralogically as schorl, is one of the most common members of the tourmaline group, though its opaque, light absorbing black sets it apart from the transparent colored varieties more often prized in fine jewelry. Orah sources this stone from Skardu Valley in Gilgit Baltistan, the same high altitude pegmatite region that produces the area's finest topaz and aquamarine. Set beside the lapis, the tourmaline reads as a deliberate anchor, a stone that absorbs light rather than returning it, standing in direct contrast to the interior glow of the blue beside it.

The hammered silver setting does not compete with either stone. It holds them. The texture of the metal softens reflection, drawing attention back to the depth of the lapis and the density of the tourmaline in turn. Avari is a piece made for someone who understands the history behind what they wear, the stone that colored the robes in Byzantine mosaics, that was ground into ultramarine by Renaissance painters, that traveled the Silk Road as currency, paired here with a stone drawn from Pakistan's own northern mountains. At Orah Jewels, it is set in Lahore, cut and finished in our own facility, one pair at a time.

Stones: Natural Lapis Lazuli (Badakhshan, Afghanistan) and Black Tourmaline (Skardu Valley, Gilgit Baltistan)
Metal: Sterling Silver
Drop Length: 2.4"
Weight: 13.59 g