The Flatback Earring As A Foundation Piece

A few styling principles we return to when stacking earrings, and how we put them into practice, piece by piece.

The Flatback Earring As Foundation Piece

An earring stack is a composition: considered, proportioned, built with intention across every piercing you have. What follows is how we think about building one: the rules we follow, the rules we break, and what it takes to build a stack that keeps evolving, the way you do.

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An earring stack is one of the more literal ways jewelry becomes a composition, with fixed points, spaced across cartilage and lobe; a canvas to create and recreate. Think of it like hanging a gallery wall: not an even, symmetrical grid, but anchors that carry weight, pauses that let the eye rest, and occasional moments of asymmetry.

Balance matters, but it isn't a formula. We want a stack that reads as resolved rather than random, and there's no single ratio that gets us there every time. What a framework gives you is room to improvise. When you learn the rules, you know when they’re worth breaking.

Flatbacks are one of our favorite earring styles for stacking: constructed with a low-profile back that sits flush against the skin, built to hold their place in a composition rather than interrupt. More on how flatbacks work, how to size them, and how to care for them in the FAQ below.

A flatback is built differently from a standard stud. Instead of a post that goes through the ear and closes with a butterfly back pressed on from behind, a flatback has a thin, flat-ended post that slides into a tiny tube (the "flatback" itself), worn on the front of the ear.

Mostly comfort, especially if you have several piercings close together. A butterfly back sits away from the ear and adds bulk; a flatback's low profile means less metal, less pressure, and something you can comfortably sleep in.

Flatback posts come in two lengths: 5mm, which fits most ears and smaller cartilage placements, and 7mm, for a thicker lobe or a piercing that needs more room. Most people need the 5mm. If you have any questions about what size is best for you, our team is happy to advise.

How We Build An Earring Stack

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A few styling principles we return to when stacking earrings, and how we put them into practice, piece by piece.

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Standard piercing convention puts the anchor in your first lobe piercing: the most substantial, statement-making piece in the stack. We like to give that anchor more room to move. Rather than limiting it to a single point, we treat the first two piercings as one anchor zone. Sometimes we go further and swap the roles entirely: the second piercing takes the focus, and the first becomes the subtler piece.

Baguette Cut Diamond Arc Flat Back Earring

For ears with lots of piercings, the lobe doesn't need to do all the work, and flatback design allows them to wear comfortably on cartilage piercings, expanding your composition upward. We like giving the middle of the ear its own moment of weight: a hoop, a cluster, or something with enough presence to hold its own. That way the eye has two places to land, instead of drifting in one long line.

Once your anchors are set, keep the rest of your stack small and consistent: a constellation of tiny diamonds, opals, pieces that don't compete for attention. To avoid the smaller pieces feeling like an afterthought, try repeating a single shape at two different points to tie the stack together through form rather than color or size.

Duo Baguette Cut Diamond Flat Back Earring

We're less interested in stones that match perfectly than in stones that are in conversation with each other. We look for a palette that resonates, like a sapphire's blue picking up the undertone in a moonstone, or a green tourmaline answering the teal tourmalines around it. Sometimes that resonance lives between the two anchors. Other times it shows up in just a few of the smaller pieces instead.

Most pieces are made to follow the line of the ear, but some are more interesting when they don't. A curved bar or a suite of stones that hugs the ear's natural shape is the expected choice, and it works. But the opposite move is just as valid: turning a piece sideways so it cuts across the curve instead of tracing it, trading harmony for a little tension.