Floral Stone Studs in Pink and White

A pair of studs in gold-tone brass, set with cubic zirconia and coloured stones. The design is built around an open flower. Photographed in Red.

A closer look

Flowers in Indian jewellery are rarely botanical. They are stylised into a repeating unit that can be scaled up or down to fill any space, which is why the same bloom turns up on a ring, on a necklace and on a temple door.

The matching earrings are small studs, which is unusual in a set of this kind — most bridal sets leave you with earrings you can wear once a year.

What it is made of

American Diamond is the Indian trade name for cubic zirconia, a crystal grown in a furnace rather than dug out of the ground. It takes a proper facet, holds a polish, and throws a little more coloured fire than diamond because it bends light harder. At this price it is the only stone that will give a design real light.

The broad rim around each coloured stone is the kundan idiom, carried over from a technique in which pure gold foil is pressed cold around the stone until it holds. Nothing here is gold foil, but the proportions are the ones that technique produced.

Colour options

One colourway is stocked, in Red — the shade the design was drawn for and the one in the photographs.

Underneath the plating the piece is brass, finished with a premium gold polish. The weight in your hand is the brass; the colour is the polish.

Wearing it

They suit hair tied back, and they go as happily with a plain cotton kurta as with silk — earrings are the one piece of Indian jewellery that never needs an occasion.

What you are buying at this price is design rather than material, and that is a reasonable thing to buy. The shapes here come out of a jewellery tradition several centuries old, and they work at a tenth of the weight and a hundredth of the cost of the gold versions.

How to care for it

Treat the plating as the wearing part. Keep it away from water, perfume and hair spray, put it on after you have finished dressing, and wipe it with a dry cotton cloth before it goes away. Stored dry in a zip pouch with the air pressed out, the finish lasts for years; left in a humid bathroom it will not last a season.

Why glass rather than coloured CZ for the colour? Because glass wins on colour. Cubic zirconia can be doped to any shade, but the result is pale and watery at this price, where coloured glass gives the deep ruby and bottle green that Indian jewellery expects. The clear stones are CZ because CZ wins on light. Each material is used where it is better.

Rather than an add-to-cart button you will find an enquiry button, and that is deliberate: these arrive in small quantities per colour, and we would rather confirm the shade is in hand than refund you later. All Keyura orders are prepaid. We do not offer cash on delivery.