Girih

Persian architecture's knotwork, reimagined in openwork gold.

Girih is the Persian word for knot, the term architects use for the interlocking strapwork patterns that cover the great buildings of Persian and Islamic architecture, geometry drawn so precisely it reads as a single continuous line with no visible start or end. This collection translates that architecture directly into gold. The Girih Cuff is the collection's namesake, a statement bracelet built entirely in openwork, the metal itself becoming the pattern rather than a background for it. The Setareh Earrings carry the same language into a star drop, the openwork gold resolving into a single fixed shape at the point where the lines finally meet. Both pieces are made to order, ten to fourteen weeks for the cuff, eight to ten for the earrings.

Peyvand continues that geometry across the wrist as a set of three engraved gold bangles, worn stacked so the pattern carries from one band to the next rather than sitting alone on a single piece. The Shamdan Pendant takes the same girih strapwork and opens it into a pendant and chain, the openwork gold cut through so light passes straight through the pattern rather than around it. Together they show the same geometric language worked at two different scales, from the wrist to the neckline. Both are made to order over eight to ten weeks, Peyvand at £6,800 for the set of three, Shamdan at £2,750.

Zarrin sits apart from the openwork pieces, its geometry closed rather than pierced through: the name means golden in Persian, and this chain bracelet earns it outright, each link a miniature shamseh, the sun motif that radiates through Persian art and architecture, worked in solid 18ct yellow gold with heavy, substantial links rather than a fine chain. It closes the collection at its most wearable point, geometry scaled down for daily wear rather than a single statement occasion. Girih runs from Zarrin at £2,400 to Peyvand at £6,800, every piece solid gold, made to order in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter: architecture, translated into something worn.