Before roses were bred for uniformity — before they became gas-station flowers in cellophane — they were wild, imperfect, and devastating. The old garden roses of seventeenth-century Dutch still lifes had petals that blushed unevenly, curled at the edges, and caught light in ways that made painters obsessive. Rachel Ruysch spent decades trying to capture that particular glow — the way a rose holds color differently at its center than at its rim, as if the bloom itself were breathing.Michael Michaud works from that same impulse. Based in New York State, he casts directly from real botanical specimens, preserving every crease and curl of an actual petal in hand-patinated bronze. Nothing is stylized or simplified. The result is a kind of sculptural fidelity that most jewelry never attempts — each piece carrying the precise organic geometry of the plant it came from. The glass beads at the center of these earrings sit like morning dew pooling in a half-open bloom, adding just enough translucence to make the bronze feel alive.Roses cast from roses.The petals are rendered in hand-patinated bronze with warm gold tones, and the posts are sterling silver — hypoallergenic and nickel-free. At 1.5 inches long and just under an inch wide, they have the proportions of an actual bud: intimate but unmistakable. Each earring weighs 4 grams, giving them a gentle, grounded presence on the ear without any heaviness. These are final sale.Handcrafted by Michael Michaud.
