Tyblits Earrings

Tyblits Earrings draw their form from two of the most enduring material traditions of ancient Mesopotamia: the clay tablet and the fired brick. The clay tablet was the primary medium of Sumerian and Babylonian writing: wet clay pressed into a rectangular form, marked with a reed stylus in the wedge-shaped impressions of cuneiform script, then left to dry in the sun or fired in a kiln to make the record permanent.

As a result, the clay tablet is one of the oldest information storage devices in the history of the world — and the oldest surviving examples, pressed over five thousand years ago, are still readable today.

The rectangular tile form of the Tyblits Earrings carries the physical memory of those tablets: the proportioned rectangle, the offset arrangement, the alternating surface qualities of matte and polished that describe the difference between the impressed and the untouched surface.

Furthermore, the brick-bond masonry of Mesopotamia added a second layer of meaning to the same form: the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians built their cities, temples, and palaces from fired mud brick, laid in offset rows with alternating courses that distributed the load and gave the walls their characteristic visual rhythm.

The great ziggurats of Ur and Babylon, the walls of the city of Uruk, the palaces of Ashurbanipal — all were built from the same rectangular fired brick unit, laid in the same offset bond, their surface carrying the same alternating rhythm of light and shadow.

The Design of the Tyblits Earrings

The Tyblits Earrings translate the tile and tablet into 18k gold. Each piece is a cascade of rectangular tile elements that descend in an offset bond pattern — each tile placed so its centre aligns with the joint between the two tiles above it, exactly as fired bricks are laid in traditional masonry.

The tiles alternate between matte and polished surfaces, so the cascade reads as a pattern of absorption and reflection, depth and brightness, the way an actual brick wall reads in raking light.

As a result, the Tyblits Earrings carry both the visual logic of the cuneiform tablet and the material logic of the brick wall.

The Tile Cascade

The alternating matte and polished tile cascade is the soul of this design. Specifically, the offset arrangement of the tiles creates a visual rhythm that is both regular and interesting — the bricklayer’s pattern as earring form, the ancient logic of distributed load translated into the logic of visual distribution.

Worn as drops, the Tyblits Earrings descend from the ear in their cascading sequence, each tile reading distinctly. Furthermore, the alternation of matte and polished creates a surface of maximum contrast: the matte tiles absorbing the light while the polished tiles reflect it, so the cascade seems to breathe.

In this way, the Tyblits Earrings carry the quality of Mesopotamian material culture: the beauty of the repeated unit, the logic of the offset, the durability of what is made in multiples.

Tyblits Earrings in 18k Gold

In rose gold the tile cascade glows with warmth, the matte and polished tiles reading in a warm alternating rhythm. In white gold the Tyblits Earrings turn cool and precise, the cascade reading with the clarity of architectural surface in pale light.

In yellow gold they radiate with full golden intensity — the tiles of ancient Mesopotamia in the most vivid material, the masonry at its most golden. Whichever metal you choose, the cascade holds its bond.

Craftsmanship and 3D Precision

Each Tyblits earring was developed in 3D modeling software and brought to life through precision 3D printing and meticulous hand-finishing. The tile cascade demands digital modeling: every tile must be placed at exactly the right offset so the bond pattern reads as consistent throughout the cascade, and the two earrings of a pair must carry matching patterns.

Hand-finishing creates both the matte and polished surfaces on the alternating tiles. This is the precision that only the Friszman MD process can deliver reliably.

A Made-to-Order Piece

Like every Friszman MD creation, the Tyblits Earrings is made to order and hand-finished in 18k gold. Explore the full earrings collection to see how each design draws its form from the world’s great traditions. You can also explore the Sumerian clay tablet and the ancient masonry traditions of Mesopotamia in the collections of the Library of Congress.