Hiedra Mini necklace

Shelter is about shelter itself: not only being a refuge, but finding one. Maite designed this collection while she was pregnant with Mikel, her second child, and that is exactly what it is about.

Ivy said it better than anything else. A climbing plant seeks its refuge, shade from the sun, and knows which way it needs to go. They are remarkably clever: they keep moving until they find what they need.

This necklace is the most minimal version of that idea. A single small leaf, resting in the hollow of the neck.

Here the workshop did something for the first time: working colour with pigment and a transparent base.

The reason is that opaque enamel covers everything. With a transparent base you can still see the material underneath, and above all you can see the pattern of the leaf's veins, which is where the drawing of the work lies. Colour and transparency blend together and let you follow the path of each vein.

From then on, Shelter's autumn red was never a flat colour again.

It is made on Calle Alameda, in the Barrio de las Letras, in a workshop you are welcome to visit. If you come by, you will probably see the next one being worked on.

It is a piece for every day and for layering. Being short and small, it works on its own with an open neckline and just as well beneath a longer necklace. In matte gold it is quietly understated; in autumn red, the light reveals the transparency of the enamel.

The lacquer protects the plating and the enamel from contact with skin and perfume. Keep it dry and stored separately, and avoid putting on scent while you are wearing it. With normal wear and this care, the gold plating will last for years.