These elegant onyx and gold earrings mirror the colors of the kiswah, a black silk cloth embroidered with quotes from the Qu’ran in gold thread that is draped over the cube shaped Ka’aba and replaced once a year.
The texturing on the gold beads is the designer’s own handwritten Arabic caligraphy. It reads: north, south, east, and west to signify the journey that people take from all corners of the world for Hajj.
Onyx is a banded variety of chalcedony (a form of quartz) and comes in a wide variety of colors. Most commonly, specimens of onyx contain bands of both black and white, though the word “onyx” means black and the pieces in this necklace are all the traditional black.
Nowadays, gold is mined all over the world, but in the old days, much of it was mined from what is now Saudi Arabia. Gold often symbolizes power, strength, wealth, warmth, happiness, love, hope, optimism, intelligence, justice, balance, perfection, and divinity.
Designed and handmade in London by jewellery designer Sima Vaziry
