Monstera Deliciosa Necklace

You check on it every morning. You notice every new leaf before anyone else in the house does. You have opinions about its light and its water and its pot size and you are not embarrassed about any of this. This necklace was made for you.

The Monstera

Monstera deliciosa is native to the tropical rainforests of southern Mexico and Central America, where it grows as an epiphyte, climbing trees and reaching toward the canopy with leaves that can grow to nearly three feet across in the wild. Young plants produce small whole heart-shaped leaves with no fenestrations at all. As the plant matures and establishes itself the leaves begin to develop their characteristic splits and holes, each new leaf more complex and more fenestrated than the last.

Nobody entirely agrees on why monstera leaves develop their fenestrations. The leading theories include allowing wind to pass through without tearing, enabling light to reach the lower leaves growing in the shade of the canopy, and helping rainwater reach the roots below. Whatever the reason the result is one of the most distinctive and beloved leaf shapes in the plant world, immediately recognizable and endlessly reproduced in art and design, which tells you something about how deeply people respond to a plant that gets more interesting the longer it lives.

The holes are not damage. They are experience. They are what happens when something is given enough time and light and care to become fully itself. I think about this more than I probably should.

The Piece

This necklace comes in two versions and you choose which one is right for you.

The standard necklace is modeled after a leaf from my own monstera. The characteristic fenestrations are pierced through by hand, every hole and split cut individually. A twisty coiled stem finishes the top, that same unfurling scroll shape of new monstera growth. The surface is deeply oxidized so every vein and edge reads in rich detail.

The custom necklace is made from a photo of your own plant. Send me a clear photo of your favorite leaf with something white behind it so I can see all the details, tell me anything important about it that you want preserved, and I will make your pendant look like your leaf! The resulting necklace will be entirely unlike any other, because it carries the exact fenestration pattern of your particular plant on its particular best day.

Both versions hang on an 18 inch sterling silver twisted rope chain and the pendant is approximately 1.5 inches tall. Each one is made to order just for you from recycled sterling silver.

The Craftsmanship

• Pendant: approximately 1.5 inches tall
• Material: recycled sterling silver throughout, oxidized
• Chain: 18 inch sterling silver twisted rope chain
• Detail: real leaf impression, hand pierced fenestrations, twisted stem
• Options: standard leaf design at $175, custom leaf from your own plant at $200
• Edition: made to order, each one unique

A Note from Tamara

I made this necklace because monstera people are my people and I wanted to give them something that felt genuinely personal. The standard version carries my own plant's leaf pattern. The custom version is my favorite thing to make because every single one is different and every single one means something specific to the person wearing it. There is something about wearing a silver record of your own plant around your neck that feels exactly right to me. I hope whoever wears this looks down at it every morning the same way they look at their monstera, with that particular quiet pleasure of something alive and growing and entirely theirs.

Shipping

Your monstera necklace will be made to order just for you in my little studio in the New Hampshire woods. Please allow one to two weeks for it to be created. You will receive a tracking number by email so you can follow it on its journey to its new home.