Samar - Lapis Lazuli Silver Earrings

From the Mehr collection by Orah Jewels and Crafts, Samar is a pair of lapis lazuli earrings from Afghanistan, shaped into a clean drop form in sterling silver that keeps the focus entirely on the quality of the stone. At 1.4 inches, the drop length is measured to register clearly without becoming the statement: these are earrings that let the color of the lapis do the work.

Lapis lazuli from Badakhshan, Afghanistan sits among the oldest traded gemstone materials in recorded history. The same mountain range that supplies Orah Jewels today supplied ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley Civilization, and the continuity of that extraction across six thousand years says something about the quality of the stone. The blue is not surface color. It is produced by lazurite, a mineral that forms deep inside the rock under metamorphic pressure, and it carries the particular density of a color that comes from within the material rather than sitting on top of it. The stones in Samar are selected for a consistent, saturated face. The pyrite inclusions are present as fine gold detail, not absent, because the geological character of the stone is part of what makes it lapis lazuli and not something else.

The silver setting in Samar frames each stone with a clean edge and a simple drop attachment, a form that was chosen specifically to avoid competing with the color of the lapis. Artisanal detailing on the setting adds surface texture at the frame without drawing the eye away from the stone face. Samar is a considered everyday earring for someone who understands the material they are wearing. Made in Lahore at the Orah Jewels and Crafts facility. One pair.

Stone: Natural Lapis Lazuli (Badakhshan, Afghanistan)
Metal: Sterling Silver
Drop Length: 1.4"