What is
ear curation?

An ear curation is, at its simplest, a collection of piercings that have been intentionally designed, chosen with your anatomy, your jewellery preferences, and your actual life in mind. They should flow together, tell a story, and feel like they were always meant to be there.

But the difference between an ear curation and just having a few piercings isn't only aesthetic. It's the thinking behind it.

It starts with your life, not just your ears

Before we even talk about placements, I want to know how you actually live. Do you work with children? Then dangly pieces and anything with a grabby element are off the table. Do you wear headphones all day, work as a doctor, pull masks on and off, use a stethoscope? All of that changes what's going to work long-term. An ear that looks beautiful in the studio but catches on everything you own isn't a successful curation. It's just an expensive inconvenience.

We also look at what you already have. Existing piercings might be incorporated into the new design, upgraded with better jewellery, or in some cases retired, particularly if they haven't healed well, were placed at an awkward angle, or are going to interfere with where we want to go next. This is never a judgment on whoever pierced you before. Bodies change, industry standards evolve, and sometimes a piercing just needs to be let go so something better can take its place.

The design session

This is where it actually starts. A two-hour session (sometimes longer, I can't always stop talking) where we sit down together, look at your anatomy, assess what your ears can actually support, and figure out what's going to work with your lifestyle.

Then comes the jewellery. We'll go through everything together, and if you come in with some inspiration, some pieces you love, a vibe you're going for, that makes it so much easier. My brain will be working the whole time, matching pieces to placements, figuring out what flows. I'll probably be mumbling to myself. But once it clicks, it really clicks, and everything falls into place.

We design the whole thing right in front of you so you can see it, move things around, try different combinations. Nothing is finalised until you're happy with it.

How we actually start

Once the design is locked, we decide how to begin. You can do both ears at once or one at a time. Sometimes doing both together is useful because pieces that don't make the cut on one side can slide straight across to the other.

I cap new piercings at three per session. Not because I'm being precious about it. Because every piercing is a wound, and your body needs to be able to manage what we give it. Setting you up with seven fresh piercings at once is setting you up for a harder journey than you need.

On the cost

If you're wanting 14ct gold, it is going to be expensive. That's solid, high-quality gold that will last a lifetime, usually set with real gemstones. It is not a cheap product and it shouldn't be. The price of gold has risen significantly over the last few years, and that directly affects what it costs us to stock it and what it costs you to wear it.

A rough estimate for an initial curation session at my Boston, MA studio, typically three to four pieces of jewellery and one to two new piercings, is around $2,000. I'm always happy to work out a plan that gets you exactly what you want at a pace that works for you.

The best part

An ear curation is never really finished. There's always the option to refresh it: new jewellery, rearranged pieces, something added when a previous piercing has healed. It's personal. It's yours. And I'll take the time to get it right.