Kandice Earrings

Kandice earrings take their name from the Kandake — the title of the warrior queens who ruled the ancient Kingdom of Kush in Nubia, in the region of present-day Sudan. The Kandake were not consorts or figureheads. They were sovereign rulers, military commanders, and architects of one of the greatest civilizations in African history.

The Kingdom of Kush, centered at the ancient city of Meroe, built more pyramids than Egypt and governed the middle Nile Valley for over a thousand years. The most celebrated Kandake was Amanirenas, who reigned in the first century BCE.

When the Roman Emperor Augustus sent his armies south along the Nile, it was Amanirenas who met them. She led her forces personally into battle. As a result, she defeated the Roman army, tore down the statue of Augustus erected at Syene, and carried its head back to Meroe as a trophy.

Furthermore, she negotiated directly with Rome and secured a favorable peace treaty — a rare achievement for any leader who faced the Roman Empire at its height. The Kandice earrings carry the name of those queens: power worn with refinement, authority expressed through composure.

The Design of the Kandice Earrings

The Kandice earrings translate the Kandake’s quality into 18k gold. Each piece is a smooth, elongated drop — a clean form that descends from the ear without ornament or interruption, its entire surface polished to a high shine.

At the base, a single gemstone is set: a diamond, ruby, or sapphire that holds its color at the lowest point of the drop. As a result, the Kandice earrings read as both minimal and powerful: a form that needs no decoration to command attention. Therefore, they carry the Kandake’s own quality — the kind of presence that does not need to announce itself.

Composure and Power

The smooth, uninterrupted surface is the soul of this design. Specifically, the absence of decoration is itself a statement: everything has been refined away until only the essential form remains. Worn as drops, the Kandice earrings fall with a clean, composed weight against the neck.

Furthermore, the high polish of the gold catches and moves the light as the wearer moves, so the surface seems to shift between warmth and brightness without ever losing its composure. In this way, the earrings carry the quality the Kandake themselves embodied: stillness that contains enormous force.

Kandice Earrings in 18k Gold and Colored Gemstones

In rose gold the smooth drop glows with warmth, set with a ruby that burns at the base of the earring with concentrated intensity. In white gold the Kandice earrings turn cool and luminous around a sapphire — the blue stone reading like still, deep water at the base of the form. In yellow gold they radiate with full golden intensity, set with a brilliant diamond — the clearest possible light at the base of the cleanest possible form.

Each pairing gives the same composed shape a different quality of presence.

Craftsmanship and 3D Precision

Each Kandice earring was developed in 3D modeling software and brought to life through precision 3D printing and meticulous hand-finishing. The smooth drop demands perfection in its simplicity: the surface must be absolutely consistent, the profile must taper cleanly without interruption, and the gemstone setting must hold the stone at exactly the right point so the drop reads as composed rather than bottom-heavy.

Additionally, the two earrings of a pair must mirror each other exactly in weight and dimension. Hand-finishing then polishes the entire surface to a mirror shine. This is the precision that only the Friszman MD process can deliver reliably.

A Made-to-Order Piece

Like every Friszman MD creation, the Kandice earrings are 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 ancient kingdoms of Africa in the Africana collections of the Library of Congress.