Add Color to Your Looks With Enamel Earrings
Bring pops of color to your everyday looks with enamel earrings. These earrings, also known as lapel pin earrings, are one of this year’s biggest trends.
For example, Melissa Kaye’s sorbet pink and sky blue ring folds around the finger like fluid tendrils (Singer Dua Lipa is a fan). Alternatively, try a cloisonné piece with fine wires separating different enamel colors.
Melissa Kaye
From simple studs to jewelry wholesale bold drop earrings, this collection of enamel jewelry offers something for everyone. Pair your earrings with a gold chain necklace and stack of gemstone cuffs for an elegant look or go casual by wearing them with a white embroidered midi dress and sneakers.
Enamel is an ancient and beautiful addition to jewelry, adding a touch of luxury. It comes in a variety of colors and styles, and it is very durable. However, it is important to remember that enamel is a delicate material and should be handled with care. It can be prone to chipping if it is not treated properly. Fortunately, advances in jewelry making make it easier than ever to preserve your enamel jewellery.
Different types of enamel include cloisonné, champlevé, and guilloche. Cloisonné is made with wires that form a grid to hold the enamel powder, while champlevé and guilloche use grooved or etched metal to support the enamel. Grisaille is similar to cloisonné, but it uses black enamel with a design painted over top.
Melissa Kaye, a New York-based designer, has a unique background that makes her enamel jewelry stand out from the rest. Having degrees in engineering and computer science, as well as an MBA in computational finance, she left her career on Wall Street to pursue her passion for jewelry design. The move was a smart one: her seven-year-old namesake label has made it into Saks and counts Rihanna, Claire Danes, and Kristen Wiig as fans.
Etho Maria
Enamel jewelry is the perfect accessory to elevate a look and add some color without breaking the bank. The color palette of enamel jewelry can be very vibrant and the pieces are incredibly durable. However, it is important to know how to care for enamel jewelry, as the material can be delicate.
Etho Maria’s enamel jewelry uses a variety of techniques, including cloisonné and plique a jour. These styles are created by fusing glass powder to metal using high temperatures. The higher the temperature, the more translucent and vibrant the enamel will be. Conversely, lower temperatures will result in opaque jewelry. The technique also allows jewelers to layer, shade, and blend different colors.
Cloisonné is a type of jewelry that features colored enamel filled into a design outlined by wires of silver or gold. The process is time-consuming, but it can produce stunning results. It is especially popular in antique jewelry, and some examples of cloisonné have been preserved for centuries.
Plique a jour is a French technique that was popular during the Art Nouveau era. It enables light to enter from the rear of the piece and creates a stained-glass-like appearance. The jewelry maker places the enamel powder to cells on a sheet of mica or copper foil, then removes it after heating. The result is a gorgeous effect that makes the enamel look as though it’s glowing from within.
Selim Mouzannar
Selim Mouzannar is a French-Lebanese designer who grew up Enamel Earrings watching his peaceful city, Beirut, get torn apart by war. His collection of enamel and gemstone jewelry reflects this heritage with its bold, sculptural lines. From lilac to turquoise, his pieces evoke the eastern Mediterranean, as well as the night of Beirut.
Mouzannar’s ‘Fish for Love’ earrings are inspired by scales, as evidenced by their beautifully curved shape and glistening diamonds. He uses enamel, a millennary technique that began in the Mediterranean, to create intricate patterns and unique shapes. The earring’s 18-karat rose gold is paired with lilac tourmaline and enamel, resulting in a contemporary yet heirloom-esque piece.
Other designers whose jewelry has been seen on the likes of Dua Lipa include Parisian label Sorellina, which fuses ancient symbols with modern materials for its collection of tarot necklaces and rings. Kirsty Stone’s eponymous fine jewelry brand takes its name from the French word retrouvailles, referring to the joy of reconnecting with something from your past.
Refined approaches to heirloom jewelry are also present in the selection of chainets from Charlotte Macaulay, with its pops of colorful enamel, and the ring-shaped charms by Bea Bongiasca. Her designs meld Central Saint Martins training with natural, flowing forms and gem-bedazzled pops of color. The result is a line of jewelry that’s both sustainable and impactful in its simplicity.
Bea Bongiasca
Italian jewelry designer Bea Bongiasca creates pieces with a playful vibe. Take this earring, for example: A marquise-cut quartz stone and a white enamel curlicue rest against the earlobe—and when worn together, the design looks like a flower with a fourth petal that connects to the ear lobe. Crafted in Italy from glossy nine-karat gold and hand-painted enamel, it’s a fun piece to add to your ear party.
Milanese designer Bea Bongiasca founded her eponymous brand in 2013 the same year she graduated from Central Saint Martins in London. Her spirited, nontraditional take on fine jewelry stems from her passion for pop culture, contemporary art and modern design—plus a deep love of all things colorful. Her focus on jewelry as a form of art informs the collection, which sees traditional gold fused with brightly colored enamel to add a sense of kinetic movement. Shop our edit for the whimsical ‘You’re So Vine!’ ring and other pieces from her collection.
Inspired by her travels to East Asia and her own experiences with luxury fashion, Bea Bongiasca fuses Western design with Eastern aesthetics in her collections. Incorporated in her jewelry is the visual language and knowledge she gained while traveling—which is evident in this gold pendant, a playful take on traditional Chinese character shapes. Made in her native Italy from 9 karat yellow gold and bubblegum pink enamel, the small ‘B Mini’ earrings are a darling choice for your ear party.
