Austy Lee channels ancient mythology through samurai metalwork and emerald grace
The jeweller draws on centuries of Japanese craftsmanship and Indian sacred tradition, embedding antique menuki within 18-karat gold to create a meditation on power and reverence.
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Austy Lee’s latest work draws from two distant cultural wellsprings: the menuki, those delicate ornamental elements historically concealed beneath the grip of a samurai sword, and Waghoba, the tiger deity venerated across Indian tribal communities for centuries, manifesting sometimes as leopard, sometimes as pure feline force depending on region and tradition.
The Waghoba With Green Lunar earrings emerge from the Ancient Fetus collection as a meditation on power held in restraint. Eighteen karat yellow gold forms the architecture, its warmth deepened by the inclusion of authentic Edo period samurai menuki, each piece carrying the weight of centuries spent nestled against warrior palms. The metal becomes a canvas for an extraordinary palette: Brazilian green tourmaline catches light with jade green intensity; Burmese jade offers that particular soft opacity only this stone achieves; Colombian emeralds lend their jewelled depth; onyx provides a grounding counterpoint in pure shadow; and scattered throughout, fancy yellow diamonds punctuate the composition like distant stars.
The synthesis feels deliberate rather than decorative. By positioning antique samurai ornaments alongside stones sacred to another continent’s mythology, Austy Lee suggests a conversation between honour systems, between the warrior’s discipline and the deity’s eternal vigil. The menuki, originally functional pieces designed to steady a warrior’s grip, become something else entirely here: meditation objects, tactile reminders of craft that served necessity before it served beauty.
The lunar in the title carries its own resonance. Both Japanese and Indian traditions have long read mythology through the moon’s phases and movements. These earrings seem to exist in that same contemplative space, suspended between the earthbound and the celestial, between the historical and the mythic. They rest against the ear as the menuki once rested against the hand: intimate, purposeful, imbued with intention that predates ornament itself.
Within the Ancient Fetus collection, this piece maintains Austy Lee’s commitment to sourcing with precision and historical consciousness, allowing the jeweller to speak simultaneously in multiple aesthetic languages without diluting the clarity of either.
Imagery courtesy of Austy Lee (@austy_lee).