Studs, drops and dangles in 3D printed nylon, hand dyed and hung on sterling silver. Forms drawn from flowers, leaves and cellular structures, at a size that would be uncomfortable in metal — a large earring here weighs almost nothing, and still does by the end of the evening.
The honest reason to wear 3D printed earrings is weight.
A pair this size in sterling silver would be heavy enough that you would think about them all evening. Printed in nylon, the same form weighs a fraction of that. You can wear a genuinely large earring — the kind that reads across a room — and forget you have them on.
That is not a compromise in the design. It is what the material allows. Because the structure is built layer by layer in a powder bed, the interior can be hollow, open, or a lattice, and the piece holds its shape regardless. Forms that would have to be solid in metal can be almost entirely air here.
The ear wires and posts are sterling silver, some plated in 18K gold. The color is dyed into the nylon rather than sprayed or plated onto it, so there is no finish sitting on the surface to wear through at the edges.
They tolerate ordinary life well. Water does not harm them, they do not tarnish, and they will not bend out of shape if they are dropped. Warm water and a soft brush is the whole cleaning routine. What they do not like is abrasion against hard surfaces, so a pouch rather than a jumbled dish.
See the whole 3D printed collection, or the matching pendants.
More on the process: how these pieces are made.
Also worth reading: why these earrings weigh so little.
