Hiedra medium earrings

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

Ivy explained it better than anything. A climbing plant seeks its refuge, cover from the sun, and knows which way it has to move. They are remarkably clever: they keep shifting until they find what they need.

Ivy spreads quietly and, when you look closely, its leaves come in many sizes. That is why this series has three earrings instead of the usual two. The small one keeps the leaf hidden. The medium one is the next moment: it reminds Maite of a bird in a cave, not a nest, getting ready to leave, poking its little head out and starting to let itself be seen.

Each leaf is cut, sanded and polished by hand before its 24-carat gold plating.

The coloured ones then go on to be enamelled, and here Shelter tried something new: working the pigment over a transparent base instead of opaque enamel. Opaque enamel covers; a transparent base lets the material show through and, above all, the pattern of the leaf's veins, which is where the drawing of the work lies.

The veins are worked so that the enamel gathers a little more in the grooves. With transparent enamel, the more it builds up, the more the shade shifts: in the grooves the colour deepens and the metalwork shows more. That is why these pieces play with subtle differences in tone.

It is painted by hand, one at a time, which is why the autumn red is never exactly the same on two pairs.

They are 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 pair being made.

Two grams the pair, so you can wear them all day without noticing. With your hair up they show in full; with your hair down they peek out and disappear. If you'd like them more discreet there is a small version, and if you'd like more presence, the long ones.

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