Monstera Obliqua Ring

The Monstera obliqua is one of the more demanding plants a serious collector can attempt. This ring lets you have the beauty without the existential anxiety of keeping it alive.

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.

It is also genuinely demanding to grow well. It requires consistently high humidity, precise temperatures, distilled or rainwater, and a great deal of patience. Most people who love it admit they have talked themselves out of owning one at least once.

This ring lets you carry that beauty on your finger without the humidifier.

The Piece

A wide double band ring in sterling silver, its surface pressed from a real leaf so that every vein you see is a permanent record of an actual leaf that once existed. The fenestrations are pierced by hand, those characteristic large rounded holes that wrap all the way around the finger so that wherever you look you see the obliqua's extraordinary lacework from a different angle. The oxidized silver deepens into the veins and shadows around the holes so the whole ring reads with the same quality of delicacy and depth that the real leaf has when light passes through it.

Every ring is made to order in your size from recycled sterling silver. Because wide bands like this sit differently on the finger than slim bands, sizing up by half a size from your normal ring size is recommended. Please be sure of your size before ordering as each ring is made specifically for you.

The Craftsmanship

• Ring: wide band with pierced fenestrations
• Material: recycled sterling silver throughout, oxidized
• Detail: real leaf impression, pierced holes wrap entire band
• Band: sized to order, recommend half size up from normal
• Edition: made to order, each one unique

A Note from Tamara

I have talked myself out of owning a real obliqua more times than I can count. The humidity requirements alone are enough to give pause. But I am completely in love with what that leaf looks like, that extraordinary combination of delicacy and structural confidence, more hole than plant and somehow more beautiful for it. I made this ring because I wanted to wear that feeling every day without the anxiety. I hope whoever wears it looks down at their finger and sees the light coming through those holes and feels exactly what I feel every time I look at the real thing. Absolute wonder that something can be so fragile and so perfect at the same time.

Shipping

Your obliqua ring 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.