It’s definitely autumn now—I can feel it in the air. Even when some days generate higher temperatures, the mornings start out crisp and cool, and the weighty air of summer is almost certainly gone.
Many of the leaves don’t seem to know it yet. Still green as ever, they make it easy for the ones that have begun changing colors to stand out. Among a row of summery trees, one brave soul, ready for a change and the impending season of hibernation, will have already made the transformation. The tree pops in shades of bright red and orange—so beautiful—and we enjoy it because we know that, all too soon, those leaves will be gone. Funny how much we concern ourselves with what the trees are doing in the transitional seasons: in fall, the change in color; in spring, the promising buds. In winter, the bare branches may sometimes feel melancholy; in summer, well, the trees are actually wondrous, but rarely do we stop to appreciate that.
This season, the fall leaves may be different. A recent Washington Post article described how global warming has influenced the way trees make their seasonal transformations, making the timing more unpredictable, and in some cases much more dull. Warmer temperatures delay the onset of fall, pushing peak season further and further back, and in some instances, they lessen the vibrancy of the leaves.
While we wait, let’s talk jewelry. The kind that preserves our favorite views of nature and makes them last forever. It’s nature mimicking nature: gemstones from the earth arranged to reflect stunning vistas—in this case, the autumn leaves.
From London-based jeweler Akansha Sethi, these earrings are the picture of fall, made with the ideal gemstone for October: tourmaline.
Vibrant and multicolored, the month’s birthstone, alongside ruby, is carved into leaf form and arranged to represent the changing of the leaves throughout the seasons. As the earrings are hoops, the leaves that hang from them appear to swirl about as if carried by the wind, the same gust that feels so welcome and crisp this time of year (anything to don that sweater, right?).
Sethi offers a variety of other jewels featuring the carved leaves, and as each is as gorgeous as the next, it was difficult to choose just one.
So I won’t.
For who could resist a necklace such as this, dangling a row of carved tourmaline leaves detailed with enamel? Certainly not I, and if you too are guilty of consuming something pumpkin-flavored this season, then probably not you either.
See all the leaf jewelry by Akansha Sethi on the jeweler’s website.
Top: Folio hoop earrings in 18k yellow gold with carved tourmaline and ruby, $4,298; AS by Akansha Sethi
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