Sumatra long earrings

Sumatra is Java's neighbouring island, and it was born in the same workshop and from the same little girl.

One afternoon, while I was working, Fénix found a leftover piece of brass wire on the bench. She wound it round her wrist, squeezed it with her fingers until it stayed put and showed it to me the way you show someone a treasure: "Look, it doesn't fall off any more."

It had no clasp and no ornament. It was just a line that went round and stayed there, hugging. It seemed to me that nothing needed adding.

That is Sumatra: a solid wire that goes round without quite closing. In the long earrings, the wire drops straight from the ear and, at the end, turns.

Sumatra isn't cut from a sheet: it begins as a solid brass wire. For the long earrings, two lengths are cut: one stays straight and the other is curved by hand into a clean, round open hoop. Then they are joined at the top of the C.

Next they are sanded, polished and matted, and receive the white bronze plating, the 24-carat gold plating and a final hypoallergenic coating.

They're made on Calle Alameda, in Madrid's Barrio de las Letras, in a workshop you can visit. If you come by, you will probably see the next pair being curved.

They measure 6 cm: the bar drops straight from the lobe and the C sits close to the jawline.

They look their best with your hair up or tucked behind your ear, and with necklines that leave the neck on show.

If you'd like something more understated, there are the Sumatra single earrings: just the curve, close to the ear.

The hypoallergenic coating protects the piece from contact with skin and perfume. Store them dry and on their own, and avoid putting on scent while you're wearing them. With normal wear and this care, the gold plating lasts for years.