- Author
- Gabby Chen
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There was a version of OF HUNGER that was chrome.
Early in the development of the NEBULA Collection, the team tested chrome plating — the bright, mirror-finish metal that dominates consumer electronics. It's the default for anything that wants to look "premium" and "futuristic." Chrome is clean. Chrome is obvious. Chrome is what every other product in the category was using.
We chose gold instead. Here's why.
The Problem with Chrome
Chrome is a mirror. It reflects everything around it with total fidelity — the room, the ceiling lights, the color of the walls. This means a chrome object never looks like itself. It looks like its environment. It has no warmth, no character of its own. It just reflects.
On a car bumper, this works. On a body, it doesn't.
When a material sits on human skin — on the ear, next to hair, against the warmth of a face — it needs to have its own tone. It needs to interact with the body, not ignore it. Chrome sits on skin like a stranger. It doesn't belong.
What Gold Does Differently
18K white gold plating has a quality chrome doesn't: it absorbs some light before reflecting the rest. The surface doesn't mirror — it glows. The reflection is softer, warmer, slightly diffused. Under daylight it leans cool. Under indoor light it warms up. Against skin, it reads as body-adjacent — like something that was meant to be there.
This is why fine jewelry uses gold and platinum, not chrome. Not because they're more expensive — chrome can look just as "shiny" — but because precious metals behave differently on the body. They participate in the warmth of skin rather than denying it.
OF HUNGER jewelry earbuds aren't fine jewelry. We're transparent about that. The 18K white gold is a plating layer over copper, not a solid precious metal. But the reason we chose it is the same reason jewelers have chosen gold for thousands of years: it looks like it belongs on a person.
The Decision
Mixed metals are one of the defining jewelry movements of 2026, with gold and silver no longer seen as rivals. OF HUNGER's 18K white gold sits at the intersection — cool enough to pair with silver accessories, warm enough to pair with gold. It's a deliberate middle ground.
But the decision wasn't about trend positioning. It was about a moment in a development studio when someone held a chrome prototype next to a gold-plated prototype, put both on a model's ear, and the difference was immediate.
Chrome looked like technology. Gold looked like it was chosen.
That was the answer.
Explore OF HUNGER earbuds across NEBULA and Electronic Gems, or read why we believe earphones should be designed to be seen.
