Ask someone to picture amber and they will imagine one color: golden honey. But hold a tray of genuine Baltic amber up to the light and you will see an entire autumn — pale lemon, warm cognac, deep cherry, milky white, even rare greenish hues. No two pieces are alike, and every color tells a story forty million years long.
Where the colors come from
All Baltic amber began as the resin of ancient pines. Its color depends on how that resin aged: how many microscopic air bubbles were trapped inside, how much it oxidized, what the sun and the sea did to it over the ages. Millions of tiny bubbles scatter light and turn amber opaque and pale; fewer bubbles let the light pass through in warm transparent tones.
A field guide to amber colors
- Honey. The classic — warm, transparent gold, like sunlight through tea. The most recognizable amber and the heart of most of our jewelry.
- Cognac. Deeper and richer than honey, with a brandy-like glow. Cognac amber looks magnificent in men's pieces — rosaries, cufflinks, chess pieces.
- Butterscotch. Opaque, creamy yellow — caused by dense clouds of micro-bubbles. Highly prized by collectors; antique butterscotch beads are among the most sought-after amber in the world.
- Cherry. Deep red-brown, dramatic and rare in nature. Our cherry amber brooches and rosaries are among the most striking pieces we make.
- Royal white. The rarest of all — less than a small fraction of mined amber. Milky, swirled like marble, formed from resin saturated with air. A white amber piece is a true collector's find.
- Green and lemon. Pale citrus tones and rare greenish amber, colored by plant matter trapped in the ancient resin.
Is one color "better"?
No — only rarer. Transparent honey with a prehistoric insect inside, opaque royal white, and swirled butterscotch each command their own devotion. The right amber is the one that catches your light. Many of our favorite pieces — like our multicolor bracelets — refuse to choose at all, stringing honey, cognac, cherry, and white together like beads of different sunsets.
One material, every color — one workshop
Every KIZIMA® piece is handcrafted in Brooklyn from genuine Baltic amber in the full natural palette. We select each stone by hand, matching colors the way a painter mixes a palette — which is why no two of our pieces are ever quite the same.
Find your color at kizima.us — from lemon light to cherry dusk, all of it frozen sunlight.
