Orange Betta Brooch/Pendant

The colour begins at the centre and travels outward, precisely as it does on the fish.

At the heart of the piece sits a Mexican fire opal of 11.79 carats, cut to its own irregular profile rather than squared to a symmetry. Fire opal is chosen for the body colour itself — that transparent, saturated orange, judged on how deep and how clean it runs — and here it carries the warm living weight of the creature.

From the body the colour moves out into the fins, laid in orange sapphire: several hundred stones, every one set by hand, graded so the orange lightens as the veils fall away. At the outermost edges colour gives way to diamond, and each fin finishes in light rather than in colour. A betta holds its fins out and flares them — display rather than speed, never quite still in the water — and the design follows the fins rather than the fish.

There is a quiet piece of engineering behind it. Opal is a considerably softer stone than sapphire, so it is protected here by the manner in which it is held rather than by any hardness of its own.

The piece is made to be worn two ways. The top detaches, so the fish may hang as a pendant at the neck or sit pinned as a brooch at the shoulder.

Worked in 18-karat gold, yellow and white together: the warm metal carries the body, the white slips away beneath the diamonds and lets them lead.

This piece is currently placed with one of our retail partners.