Twelve objects, in brass, at the wrong scale
Mirethax makes enamelled brass earrings shaped like the things that end up in a drawer. A thimble. A claw hammer. A paperclip. There is no deeper idea than that, and we would rather say so than invent one.
Why the edges are not perfect
Enamel is glass. It goes on as a powder, melts in a kiln, and pulls back very slightly from any rim as it flows. That leaves a thin bright line of brass wherever the colour stops.
On a mass-produced piece that line gets ground off, or the colour is printed rather than fired so it never happens. We fire, and we leave it. It is the quickest way to tell a fired enamel from a painted one at arm's length.
The same process is why you may find one or two tiny bubbles in a surface. A bubble is not a fault. A chip is, and we replace those.
Twelve, not two hundred
Four drawers of three. Adding a thirteenth would mean a new die, a new colour and a new photograph, and we would rather make the twelve properly. The range changes slowly or not at all.
Finished pairs
Every piece ships as a complete pair on our own 12 mm brass hoops. You are not buying a charm to hang on something you already own, and there is nothing else to order to make it wearable.
Where it is made
We are a Hong Kong company. The cutting, pressing and firing is done by our manufacturing partner. We are not the workshop and we will not describe ourselves as one.
Five things we will not claim
- That brass is precious metal. It is not, and it costs what it costs for that reason.
- That any of this is hypoallergenic. Brass contains copper; some people react to it, and we would rather you knew before you ordered.
- That the colours are permanent under any treatment. Enamel is glass and glass chips if you drop it on tile.
- That every pair is identical. Fired enamel varies slightly in depth between batches.
- That the range is limited, numbered or an edition of anything.
Where to start
If you have not worn a charm earring before, buy the paperclip. It is the lightest thing we make at 4 g the pair, it is $26, and it tells you within a day whether the format suits you.
If you already know it does, buy the claw hammer. At 9 g it is more than twice the weight, and the only piece in the range that anyone will comment on.
Anything else — what a piece weighs, whether the enamel matches a colour you have, how a hoop sits on a stretched lobe — write to info@mirethax.com. One inbox, answered within a business day.