{"title":"Amethyst","description":"\u003cp\u003eWorn for nine hundred years by people who had to be answerable. A room in a rock, filled in over eighty million years.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"bee-garden-multi-stone-ring","title":"The Garden Rule — Amethyst, Peridot \u0026 Topaz Ring","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSome of it never belonged to this planet at all.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is an island in the Red Sea that the Egyptians worked for three and a half thousand years, and for most of that time they did it at night.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eZabargad. Topazios to the Greeks, which is where the word topaz comes from — except the island never produced topaz. It produced peridot. The naming has been wrong since antiquity and nobody has managed to fix it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey mined it after dark because peridot is hard to spot in daylight and shows itself under a lamp. Miners marked the stones at night and dug them out in the morning. The island was guarded; the penalty for landing on it without permission was death.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA good deal of what Cleopatra was said to wear as emerald was almost certainly peridot from that island.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere is the part that still stops me. Peridot is olivine, and olivine forms far down in the earth's mantle under pressure that does not exist at the surface. It arrives here by volcano. It also arrives here by meteorite — pallasites, iron meteorites shot through with olivine crystals, fall to earth carrying gem peridot formed at the core of a shattered planet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSome of it never belonged to this planet at all.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis ring is a garden. Amethyst, peridot and topaz set among bees and flowers in silver — the peridot is the green you keep coming back to.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI nearly left this one out of the collection for being too much. I kept it because too much is occasionally the correct amount, and because the bee is not decoration here: a bee is the only reason a garden pays.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e925 sterling silver with gold plating on the bees and flowers. Made after you order it, up to twenty days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e£169 at launch, £189 after\u003c\/strong\u003e — for three natural stones and this much bench time. The band is wide and every flower on it is finished separately, which is where the hours went.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural peridot 4×6 mm, natural amethyst 4×6 mm, natural sky blue topaz 4×6 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSynthetic ruby accent\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver with gold plating\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade to order, up to 20 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePeridot has been carried as a stone of prosperity since before Rome. Some people feel something. Some don't. If you don't, you are still wearing the mantle of the earth.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49038640447658,"sku":"ASI8-PER-002","price":179.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/p02a.jpg?v=1786491298"},{"product_id":"amethyst-black-rhodium-ring","title":"Night Amethyst — Black Rhodium Ring","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor nine hundred years it was the stone you wore to be answerable.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmethyst means \"not drunken\". \u003cem\u003eA-methystos.\u003c\/em\u003e The Greeks cut wine cups from it and believed you could drink all night and keep your head, and the belief was so durable that it survived the Roman empire, the fall of Rome and the arrival of Christianity without anybody seriously checking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe church kept it and changed what the sobriety was for. From the early middle ages, an amethyst was set in the ring a bishop wore, and it was kissed. Not a stone of pleasure denied — a stone of being clear-headed because people were relying on you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor nine hundred years it was the stone you wore to be answerable.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd it was expensive. Until the 1700s amethyst sat with ruby, emerald and sapphire in the top rank of precious stones, priced accordingly, worn by people who could prove they mattered.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen Brazil. Enormous deposits found in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and within a generation the price collapsed. The same stone, unchanged in every physical respect, went from cardinal's ring to something a schoolgirl could be given.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI think about that more than is probably healthy. Nothing about the stone moved. Only how many of them there were.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eI plated this one in black rhodium — dark metal, so the purple has to work for its attention — with gold on the leaves. It is the piece that keeps the first collection from being sweet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e925 sterling silver base, black rhodium and gold plating. Plating on a heavily-worn ring will thin at the contact points over years; that is what plating does, and a jeweller can redo it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade after you order it, up to twenty days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e£139 at launch, £159 after.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst — 4×6 mm oval, 3×5 mm and 3×3 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNano emerald-green accent stones — laboratory-grown, not mined emerald\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver, black rhodium and gold plated\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade to order, up to 20 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWorn for centuries to keep a clear head. Some people feel something. Some don't. If you don't, it is still the stone that a bishop's ring and a schoolgirl's pendant have in common.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49038644314282,"sku":"ASI8-AME-007","price":149.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/p07a.jpg?v=1786491297"},{"product_id":"amethyst-ring","title":"The Thing You Know — Amethyst Ring","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA cave that has been filling itself in for eighty million years.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmethyst does not form in seams. It forms in rooms.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGas gets trapped in cooling lava and leaves a cavity. Water carrying dissolved silica seeps in over an immensity of time and crystals grow inwards from every wall, pointing at the middle, until the room is a mouth full of teeth. Break one open — some are the size of a car, some the size of a fist — and every point in there is aimed at a centre that no longer has any space left in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe purple is iron. A trace of it, caught in the quartz lattice and then hit by natural radiation from the surrounding rock over millions of years, which knocks the iron into a state that absorbs everything except violet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo the colour is damage. Radiation damage, held steady for eighty million years, and we find it beautiful.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA cave that has been filling itself in for eighty million years.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost of what you will ever see comes from Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and from Artigas in Uruguay, either side of the same border, arguing gently about which side has the better colour. Uruguay usually wins and charges for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis one is straightforward — natural amethyst, silver, worn every day without a plan. It is the sister piece to the black rhodium ring and I kept both because they are not for the same mood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e925 sterling silver. Made after you order it, up to twenty days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e£129 at launch, £149 after.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmethyst does fade in sunlight — genuinely, permanently, over years on a windowsill. Keep it in its wrapping and it will outlast you.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade to order, up to 20 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWorn for centuries to keep a clear head. Some people feel something. Some don't. If you don't, it is still a room in a rock.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49038646608042,"sku":"ASI8-AME-010","price":149.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/p10a.jpg?v=1786491298"},{"product_id":"amethyst-green-ring","title":"Two Voices — Amethyst Ring","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePurple and green were an argument for four hundred years.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePurple next to green is a combination Europe spent centuries deciding was wrong.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePurple was legislated. Tyrian purple came from a sea snail — thousands of them for a few grams — and Roman and later Byzantine law restricted who could wear it, on pain of serious consequence. Green was the ordinary world: cloth dyers, hedgerows, everything that grew. Putting them together crossed a line that was social before it was ever aesthetic.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThen in 1908 the British suffragettes chose purple, white and green, deliberately, and put the two colours that were not supposed to touch onto the same sash and wore them down Whitehall.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePurple and green were an argument for four hundred years.\u003c\/strong\u003e Somebody eventually won it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eNow the disclosure, and it matters here.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe amethyst is natural. \u003cstrong\u003eThe green stones are nano-emerald — a laboratory-grown material, not mined emerald.\u003c\/strong\u003e It is a real, stable, well-made synthetic and it is used across the industry, and it is not emerald, and I am not going to let the word do any work it has not earned.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf I had set actual emerald of this size and colour in this ring, it would not cost £149. It would cost several times that, and the ring would be a different object with a different purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003e925 sterling silver, pavé-set across a domed band. It is the busiest piece here and it is meant to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade after you order it, up to twenty days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e£149 at launch, £169 after.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst — 4×5 mm, 3×5 mm and 3×4 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNano-emerald accent stones — laboratory-grown, not mined emerald\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade to order, up to 20 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmethyst has been worn for centuries for a clear head. Some people feel something. Some don't. If you don't, it is still two colours that were illegal together.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49038653423786,"sku":"ASI8-AME-012","price":169.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/p12a.jpg?v=1786491298"},{"product_id":"amethyst-butterfly-set","title":"Winged Amethyst — Amethyst Butterfly Set","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNobody in the ancient world drew a butterfly by accident.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGreek has one word for both the soul and the butterfly. \u003cem\u003ePsyche.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNot a metaphor somebody constructed later — the same word, used for both, by people who did not appear to find that strange. On Greek funerary art the soul leaves as a small winged thing. Aristotle used \u003cem\u003epsyche\u003c\/em\u003e for butterfly in his zoology without pausing to explain himself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Aztecs put butterflies with Xochiquetzal and with the dead. In Japan they arrive at the moment somebody is remembered. In Ireland it was said that a butterfly at a wake was the person, still in the room, on their way.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNobody in the ancient world drew a butterfly by accident.\u003c\/strong\u003e It always meant the same thing and it meant it independently in places that had never heard of each other: something leaves, changed, and it is still the thing that was there before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhich is either a very large idea or a very small insect, depending on the morning.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a set — matching pieces in amethyst and silver, butterflies throughout, meant to be worn together rather than picked apart. I nearly did not include a set in a first collection, because sets can look like a shop trying to increase a basket.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI kept it because this particular motif is the one that earns being repeated. A single butterfly is a decoration. Several of them is a migration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e925 sterling silver with gold plating, natural amethyst. Made after you order it, up to twenty days.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e£309 at launch, £349 after\u003c\/strong\u003e — for the whole set. The most expensive thing here, because it is three pieces of bench work rather than one, and because there is more silver and more stone in it than in anything else in the collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e925 sterling silver with gold plating\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMatching set, made and wrapped as one commission\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMade to order, up to 20 days\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAmethyst has been worn for centuries for a clear head. Some people feel something. Some don't. If you don't, it is still the oldest picture of change we have.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49038655553706,"sku":"ASI8-AME-013","price":359.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/p13a.jpg?v=1786491297"},{"product_id":"amethyst-blue-topaz-horse-necklace-brooch","title":"Unbridled — Amethyst \u0026 Blue Topaz Horse Necklace and Brooch","description":"\u003cp\u003eA horse's head turned in profile, mane thrown forward in gold, with a pear-cut amethyst falling from the throat like a bit that was never fitted.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt fastens two ways: on the chain as a pendant, or on the fitting behind as a brooch. The same piece reads differently on a collar than it does on a coat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst, 5 × 8 mm pear\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSky blue topaz, 2 × 4 mm · green agate, 3 × 5 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eApprox. 39.65 × 18.83 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSolid 925 sterling silver with a gold-plated finish and blackened detailing\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade to order. Plating is a surface finish and it wears with time; the silver beneath it does not.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49045090238634,"sku":null,"price":189.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/33-1.jpg?v=1786612695"},{"product_id":"blue-topaz-drop-earrings","title":"Open Current — Sky Blue Topaz \u0026 Amethyst Drop Earrings","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo clusters, one hanging from the other. Pear and oval sky blue topaz set against amethyst, with small nano sapphires closing the gaps — cool blue on top, violet cutting through it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe lower drop swings. That is the whole design: a fixed cluster at the lobe and a loose one beneath it, so the colour changes every time you turn your head.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSky blue topaz, 6 × 9 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst, 4 × 4 mm and 4 × 6 mm\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNano sapphire and nano emerald accents\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eApprox. 28.5 mm drop\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSolid 925 sterling silver\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade to order.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49045091418282,"sku":null,"price":139.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/36-1.jpg?v=1786612696"},{"product_id":"amethyst-tree-jewelry-set","title":"Purple Root — Amethyst Branch Jewellery Set","description":"\u003cp\u003eBranches in blackened silver, budding gold leaves and marquise-cut amethyst. The earrings drop the length of a jaw; the ring runs along the finger rather than sitting on top of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBlackened silver is oxidised, not painted — the surface is deliberately darkened so the gold and the amethyst have somewhere to stand against.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat is in the set\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOne pair of branch drop earrings\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOne matching branch ring\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch3\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst, marquise cut\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNano emerald-green pavé\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSolid 925 sterling silver, black rhodium and gold-tone plated details\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade to order. The ring is sized — give us your UK size at checkout.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49045091451050,"sku":null,"price":239.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/37-1.jpg?v=1786612696"},{"product_id":"amethyst-botanical-jewelry-set","title":"Night Garden — Amethyst Botanical Jewellery Set","description":"\u003cp\u003eRoses packed tight with pavé amethyst, on stems of blackened silver with gold buds. Three pieces cut from the same idea: a pendant that hangs on a long stem, a pair of drop earrings, and a ring whose flower sits across the knuckle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe set reads almost black from a distance and violet up close. That is intentional — it is built for evening light rather than daylight.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eWhat is in the set\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNecklace with rose pendant\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePair of drop earrings\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStatement ring\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003ch3\u003eMaterials\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatural amethyst, pavé and centre stones\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSolid 925 sterling silver, black rhodium and gold-tone plated details\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\u003cp\u003eMade to order. The ring is sized — give us your UK size at checkout.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Asi8","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49045091549354,"sku":null,"price":319.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/files\/39-1.jpg?v=1786612696"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0719\/3313\/2970\/collections\/p10a.jpg?v=1786536627","url":"https:\/\/asieight.com\/collections\/amethyst.oembed","provider":"Asi8","version":"1.0","type":"link"}