When nature gives its colors to jewelry

When looking at certain pieces of jewelry made from seeds and pits, it is often their colors that first catch our eye.

In Europe, where we are less familiar with these materials and their use in Brazilian craftsmanship, one might easily think that these colors were obtained with industrial dyes.

And yet, this is not always the case.

Certain seeds and pits naturally possess astonishing colors. Others can be dyed by hand using plant-based elements: fruits, leaves, roots, or bark.

At Amazonikaa, when I select jewelry made from these plant materials, I specifically prioritize this relationship with nature: either the material retains its natural color, or its color is crafted by hand using plant-based elements.

But before talking about coloring, we must look at what nature already offers us.

Seeds and pits: colors that already exist in nature

The natural palette of seeds and pits is much richer than one might imagine.

Some materials used in Brazilian craftsmanship simply do not need to be dyed.

The saboneteira (sapindus saponaria), for example, naturally possesses a dark shade.

The tento (adenanthera pavonina) stands out for its intense red, while the tento olho-de-cabra (ormosia arborea) naturally presents that characteristic combination of red and black.

The pit of the inajá (attalea maripa), the fruit of an Amazonian palm, takes us to an entirely different palette, with softer tones that lean toward brown and caramel.

Intense red, red and black, brown, caramel… these colors already belong to the material.

For someone discovering these seeds and pits in Europe, this can be surprising. Some shades are so deep or vivid that one could easily imagine that coloring was necessary.

However, here, the color was not added: it was already there.

This is one of the things I like to help people discover through Amazonikaa: before it is the color of a piece of jewelry, it is sometimes quite simply the color that nature gave to a seed or a pit.

Discover the jewelry made of plant materials selected by Amazonikaa

When nature also allows for the creation of new colors

But not all the colors observed on these pieces of jewelry are necessarily those that the seed originally possessed.

There is another way to work with color: using plant elements to naturally modify the shade of the material.

This is a skill I find particularly in the work of Dona Nice (photo above), an artisan from the Jamaraquá community in the Brazilian Amazon, with whom I work today.

Dona Nice is part of the Jamaraquá women's association, whose artisans create pieces using natural materials.

To create certain colors, she uses the natural elements she is familiar with. She gathers the materials she needs, sometimes directly around her home, and then uses them to prepare the seeds.

Fruits, leaves, roots, or bark can thus be involved in the coloring process.

Lemon, indigo (anil), or even saffron are some examples.

We then discover something quite fascinating: one plant material can transform another.

The morototo and the lemon: when a seed changes color

Let's take a concrete example with the morototo (didymopanax morototoni), a seed that Dona Nice works with, in particular, to obtain different shades.

Dona Nice has lemon trees at her home. When she has plenty of lemons, she can use them to work on the color of the morototo.

To obtain a shade close to olive green, the seeds are immersed in a lemon-based preparation.

She uses the juice, but also the lemon peels, then leaves the seeds in contact with this preparation for a certain amount of time.

Gradually, their color transforms.

And the resulting shade is not necessarily always exactly the same.

The quantity of lemons, the quantity of seeds, and the time spent in the preparation can influence the intensity of the color.

This is where the artisan’s skill takes on its full meaning.

It is not simply a matter of applying a predefined color to a material. You must know what you are using, understand how the materials react with each other, observe the transformation, and work with the natural variations.

Lemon, indigo, saffron… a plant-based palette

Lemon is only one example.

Other plant elements can be used to work on other tones.

Indigo is used in certain preparations, while saffron allows for reaching warmer, ochre tones.

Certain barks can also be used to obtain darker shades.

Thus, a material that already possesses its own natural color can reveal new nuances thanks to the artisan's work.

And this is probably one of the aspects that I find most fascinating about this craftsmanship: the color does not mask nature. It comes from nature itself.

A seed can meet a fruit, a leaf, a root, or a bark. Then come the knowledge, the experience, the time, and the artisan’s movements.

Behind a color, there are the hands of an artisan

When I select these creations from Dona Nice for Amazonikaa, I do not just see a necklace, a bracelet, or a pair of earrings with beautiful colors.

I also think about what happened before the piece of jewelry reached us.

The materials had to be prepared, the necessary plant elements sought out, the coloring worked on, its evolution observed, and then the jewelry crafted by hand.

When we discover the finished creation, all these steps have become almost invisible. And yet, they are there.

They also explain why the shades may vary slightly from one creation to another.

A seed or a pit is a natural material. And when its color is worked using plant elements, the result does not seek the perfect uniformity of industrial production.

These variations are therefore not something to be erased.

They are part of the history of the material and the artisan’s work.

Like any piece of jewelry, a few gestures to preserve it

A piece of jewelry made from seeds, pits, or other plant materials deserves to be worn and kept with care, just like any other piece of jewelry.

In particular, it is preferable to avoid spraying perfume or cosmetic products directly on the jewelry and to protect it from prolonged exposure to humidity.

A few simple steps allow you to preserve its beauty and enjoy these artisanal creations for a long time.

Would you like to know how to maintain your jewelry and preserve it over time?

Discover my advice for maintaining and preserving your jewelry

Looking at jewelry colors differently

At Amazonikaa, I select and import jewelry made in Brazil by partner artisans.

Through these creations, I want to help people discover artisanal skills, materials, and stories in Europe that allow us to look at Brazil differently.

For jewelry made from seeds and pits, I favor, as much as possible, the natural color of the material or colors obtained by hand from plant elements.

So, the next time you look at the colors of a piece of jewelry made from seeds or pits, observe them a little more closely.

This color that you perhaps thought was artificial... was perhaps already that of the material.

And if it wasn't, it may have begun its story in a fruit, a leaf, a root, or a bark, before passing through the hands of an artisan.