The Evil Eye Charm Our Editor in Chief Wears—And Gifts, Too
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Here at T&C, we pride ourselves on our discerning eye for quality. With Tried & True, our editors will give you an inside look at the pieces they simply cannot live without.
Yes I am Greek. Yes I wear an evil eye charm every single day. No, I didn’t always. It actually took a while.
I knew about what we call the “mati” for as long as I can remember. The idea is that fueled by jealousy or bad vibes, a person could cast a kind of spell over you. Things would fall apart, you might get a headache or feel nauseous. You would call someone in the community who knew how to break the spell. You might yawn a lot as they were reciting the ritual-that was proof it was working. You could of course, avoid all this by wearing an evil eye charm. It would, legend says, stare back at the evil eye being directed at you and repel it. Do I believe all this you probably are wondering. Well I’d rather be safe than sorry is my general response.
Lapis Eye Charm
amazon.com
$530.00
Growing up evil eye charms consisted mainly of blue glass beads sold at the Monastiraki Flea Market in Athens. They did not, pardon the pun, catch my eye. The jeweler Ileana Makri changed that when she debuted at Barneys with a collection of evil eye charms in sapphire and diamonds, in tsavorite and gold. She became the rock star of the evil eye charm. Others followed, and all continued to innovate this ancient symbol of protection. Jeweler Nikos Koulis plays with stones like lapis and white agate on an evil eye statement necklace. Lito has her charms handpainted by an iconographer. The symbol has become a powerful vehicle for designers imaginations, and the evil eye, one of the most popular talismans on the market.
I have, for about a year now, worn this lapis and coral eye from the New York based team Ten Thousand Things. I love the color combination here (and that the center is red, another color said to have powerful protective properties) and I love that Ron Anderson and David Rees, the partners behind Ten Thousand Things, remain independent and have dedicated themselves to their strong and singular point of view. Their evil eye charms are done in handcarved hard stones and showcase a stone in the center. There is a sleek modernity to them. It’s clearly an evil eye charm but a subtle one.
Last Christmas I bought the females in my family the same Ten Thousand Things evil eye charm in different variations, a rock crystal with a turquoise eye, one with a coral eye, and rose quartz with a pearl in the center. That this symbol, so steeped in history, could continue to inspire jewelers is a testament to its power. I also loved that the evil eye, a motif so rooted in our ancestral culture, has been revived and reinvigorated by a team of jewelers so rooted in our hometown. That meeting of our two worlds makes me feel even more protected.
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