The angles of beauty: tropical leaf earrings by hemmerle

Beauty has many facets, depending on how you look at it. Oftentimes, what matters is the interpretation.

Hemmerle recently announced private viewings in Palm Beach, Florida, with a symbolic image of their tropical leaf-shaped earrings.

The jewelry house, now run by the fourth generation of the Hemmerle family, interprets beauty according to their codes and high standards of perfection.

Prominent for its innovative spirit, conceptual leaps and ambition, Hemmerle researches and uses new, unconventional materials and unexpected combinations thereof. In their one-of-a-kind creations, they frame and offset exceptional and rare gems with base metals and alloys – copper and iron, brass and steel – with wood or acorns from a park, walrus teeth from a fossils fair or pebbles from the river banks.

Hemmerle looks deep into the majestic wonders and the simple things around the world to find inspiration and keep moving forward, rather than solely relying on classic yet stagnant approaches. Instead, they choose to combine classics and modernity, tradition and unorthodox, alternative methods and media.

Their uncommon creative path started decades ago. In the 1990s, Stefan Hemmerle was approached by a client, a Munich art collector, whose wife was less than thrilled with traditional, pompous gems, and chose to wear Berlin iron jewelry.

This kind of jewelry became popular in the early 19th century, during the War of Liberation, when the Prussian royal family urged citizens to contribute gold and silver jewelry to fund the uprising against Napoleon. Overnight, metal jewelry, which had previously been worn only as a sign of mourning, became aesthetically appealing and an immensely popular symbol of patriotism.

For that client, Stefan Hemmerle created an unconventional ring, setting a diamond in textured iron, using a “cheap” metal to reinforce the expensive luster of the gem.

In the exotic leaf-shaped earrings featured, Hemmerle uses as inspiration a split-leaf philodendron, a tropical plant originating in the rainforests of Central America.

The earrings are delicate and dainty. Meanwhile, the plant’s glossy, leathery, heart-shaped leaves can grow to an impressive 18 inches (45 centimetres) wide on foot-long stalks.

As sweet and pretty as it may look, this plant is dangerous: it contains oxalic acid, making all of its parts – except the ripe fruit – poisonous.

Through the purity of the natural shape, with its clean lines and vivid, attractive greenness, Hemmerle transforms a seductive, poisonous plant into refined earrings. The artistic interpretation of absolute and uncanny natural beauty.