Monstera Obliqua Earrings

In the plant community there is a saying that gets repeated every single time someone posts a photo of what they believe to be a Monstera obliqua. It is never obliqua. Except this time it is.

The Monstera Obliqua

The Monstera obliqua is one of the most extraordinary looking plants you can grow, and the reason is simple. A mature obliqua leaf is up to 90 percent empty space. The leaf tissue that remains forms a delicate web of green strands so thin they are semi-transparent when held to light, giving the whole leaf a quality that looks less like a plant and more like something someone drew by hand with a very fine pen. It is often described as living lacework and that description is completely accurate.

The holes are not decorative. They are an evolutionary adaptation that developed in the obliqua's native Central and South American rainforests, allowing the plant to withstand strong winds without the leaf tearing and letting light filter down through the canopy to the lower leaves below. The obliqua solved a structural engineering problem by becoming mostly air and the result is one of the most beautiful leaves in the plant kingdom.

The question everyone asks when they first see one is the same question you have probably already asked yourself. How does a leaf with that many holes survive? The answer is that the holes are not weakness. They are the whole point. The obliqua is not surviving in spite of the gaps. It is thriving because of them.

The Piece

Two obliqua leaves in sterling silver, long and narrow and pierced through with those characteristic large rounded holes that make the real leaf so immediately recognizable to anyone who has spent time in the plant community. Each leaf was hand cut from recycled sterling silver and given its surface texture using a real leaf pressed into the metal, so every vein you see is a permanent record of an actual leaf that once existed. The fenestrations are cut through by hand, every opening individual, the whole leaf twisted slightly the way obliqua leaves naturally curl and angle in the wild.

A small coiled tendril is soldered to the top of each leaf, both decorative and practical, keeping the leaf secure on its sterling silver ear wire. The whole earring dangles approximately 2.25 inches from where it enters your ear, the leaf itself approximately 2 inches long, light enough to wear all day and detailed enough to start a conversation with every plant person who sees them.

Each pair is made to order just for you from recycled sterling silver, and because each one is made by hand and pressed from a real leaf no two pairs will ever be exactly alike.

The Craftsmanship

• Earrings: approximately 2.25 inches from ear wire, leaf approximately 2 inches long
• Material: recycled sterling silver throughout
• Detail: real leaf impression, hand pierced fenestrations, coiled tendril
• Style: French wire dangle earrings
• Edition: made to order, each pair unique

A Note from Tamara

I made these because obliqua leaves are one of those things that stop plant people completely the first time they see one in person. All those holes and yet it is still a leaf, still doing everything a leaf is supposed to do, still completely itself. I find that genuinely moving. I also find it genuinely impressive that a plant figured out how to be mostly air and still hold together. I hope whoever wears these gets asked about them by every plant person they encounter and enjoys saying yes, actually, this time it really is obliqua.

Shipping

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