Rectangle Hoop Earrings in 14K Yellow Gold

The lobe is a curve, and setting a rectangle against it is an argument. Straight sides and square corners next to soft tissue make the shape read as drawn rather than found, and that is the appeal. Nothing about this earring pretends to be organic.

It stands 13.00mm tall by 10.00mm wide. The vertical bias keeps a rectangle from reading as a squat box on the ear and gives the four faces different jobs: the two long sides carry most of the light, the two short ones punctuate it. Each face is its own plane, so the earring lights one plane at a time and goes quiet between them, stepping through its reflections instead of gliding through them.

At 1.8 grams this is one of the lightest ways to get a hard-edged shape onto an ear. The high polish keeps the planes crisp, since a soft finish would blur the corners that justify the whole design, and a snap lock fastens the hoop to itself. Corners are where a polish gets judged. A rounded band can be brought up on a wheel in a single pass, while an edge has to be worked from both faces without softening the line where they meet.

Solid 14K yellow gold. Covered for life.