What better way to honour a loved one than from the emotion of love. The designer transforms tears into a pearl-like stone, with is then set in a ring designed to last a lifetime. The tear rings are for people who want to capture their or their loved one’s tears or both and keep them as a timeless reminder of a story once lived.

If you would like any more information, or have any questions please contact us on +44 (0) 845 308 8300 or email hello@afterglow.life or please fill out this form.

The Artist

Merle is a conceptual designer living and working in the Netherlands. She sees her role as a designer to pivot and highlight the unseen, working in her own studio since 2018. In her work, Merle developed a technique to eternalise and honour our tears. She believes that the solidified tears carry anecdotes of loss, of deep endearment, of sadness and of joy. Wearing a piece of jewellery with a tear-stone remembers and invites us to think about our most profound moments and carry them with us everywhere we go. Merle wants to give our tears a literal silver, or golden lining.

Import Charges

It is really important for us that you have no surprises concerning extra charges. This urn is sent directly from Europe. On entry to the UK there will be a 20% VAT, 3% duty and courier’s fee to handle the shipment payment to HMRC. The VAT and duty charges are calculated and governed by the UK government at the time of entry to the UK and paid directly by you before receipt of your urn. You will be notified by the courier for the charges payable. Once paid, your urn will be delivered.

How it Works

1. Once you let us know you want to eternalize your story by placing an order, we will send you a tear kit with a glass bottle.​

2. The bottle with a silicone watertight stopper allows you to collect your tears or those of your love one. In the bottle are two little porcelain kernels that need to be covered in the tear fluid. It helps to shift the bottle to an angle to collect them. After the tears have been collected, give the bottle a little time to release the warmth of the tears and put the stopper back on tightly. There are two kernels inside the tear bottle so if in any case anything happens to the ring, we will have one extra tear stone archived to replace it.

3. Please send the tear bottle to the return address we will provide. When we receive your collected tears we will proceed to carefully transform them into the tear-stone using a high temperature oven in the studio in Utrecht. The tiny kernels in the bottle are made out of a material that will soak up a bit of the liquid and subsequently hold some of the minerals. The minerals will melt when fired and transform into a beautiful glaze. Your tear-stone will be set with deep respect, attention and care. The ring will be custom made to the size of your finger by a specialized maker where your ring will be casted in solid silver, 14k or 18k gold and polished to get a beautiful fluid-like shine.