Multi Stone Short Necklace Set

A necklace set in gold-tone brass, set with cubic zirconia and coloured glass stones. It sits just below the collarbone, which is the easiest necklace length to wear. The design is built around a cluster of stones. Photographed in Pink.

The design

Massing small stones into a cluster is the cheapest way to get the light of one large stone, and it is how Indian jewellery has always answered that problem — the cluster has a far longer history here than the solitaire.

Shaped drops hang below the main body of the piece, lengthening the line and keeping the design from reading as a solid block.

What it is made of

Cubic zirconia does the work. Known in India as American Diamond, it is a grown crystal, hard enough to hold a sharp facet edge and bright enough to carry a whole design on its own. Where there is colour it is glass, and that is the right choice — glass takes a deeper, more saturated colour than CZ ever will.

Those flat metal rims around the coloured stones are a kundan borrowing. Kundan setting beds a flat-topped stone in soft gold worked cold around its edge — no claws, no heat. The shape it leaves behind is the most recognisable thing in Indian jewellery, and it survives here in plated brass.

Shades and stock

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

The base is brass under a premium gold polish. Brass is the right base for costume jewellery — heavy enough to feel like something, soft enough to be worked, and it does not go brittle with age.

It wants an open neckline. Against a high-necked kurta the design has nowhere to sit, so keep it for a saree blouse or a boat neck, and pin your dupatta behind the shoulder.

How it wears

There is no sense in which this is an investment piece, and that is rather the point of it — you can buy a colour that suits one outfit, wear it to one wedding, and be satisfied.

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.

The photographs on this page are of the piece itself, shot under ordinary light rather than in a studio, so what you see is close to what arrives. Screens do shift colour, though, and a deep red can read as maroon on one phone and as crimson on another — if the exact shade matters to you, ask on the enquiry and we will describe it against something familiar.

This piece is listed for enquiry rather than instant checkout, because stock on the colour you want has to be confirmed before we take money for it. Use the enquiry button on this page and we will come back with availability, the final price and a delivery window. Payment is prepaid in every case; cash on delivery is not available.