Karmen Miller, currently a Junior in high school has a LOVE for all types of earrings. Having been collecting for quite a long time, she’s slowly grown her collection A LOT since the beginning. Here are some photos of her current collection!

Why’d you start this collection?

• “It started when I went to New York City. I went to the 9/11 museum and memorial where they had a gift shop with paper crane earrings that were made by hand. I was not sure why they were there exactly, but I do remember reading a book called “A Thousand Paper Cranes.” This book was about the bombing of Hiroshima and the aftermath it caused for a girl named Sadako Sasaki. In the story, she gets cancer from the radiation of the bombing, and she starts making origami paper cranes. It is said in Japanese culture that if you make 1,000 paper cranes, you will have good health and luck. I always loved that story, so I got the earrings.”

How long have you been collecting earrings?

• “I’ve been collecting earrings for about 2 years going on 3. I have so many that I’m running out of room to put all of them!”

What’s your most expensive pair of earrings?

• “My most expensive pair of earrings are my butterfly earrings. They were about $30 including tax and shipping. They are from a lady in Canada who sells earrings. I found her on Etsy. I read her profile about where she sources her earrings and it made me happy. She sources them from cruelty-free farms where they are raised in underprivileged communities. After they die, she turns their wings into art.”

What’s your favorite pair of earrings?

• “My favorite pair of earrings are my butterfly earrings for a series of reasons. One of the reasons is that I always loved how reflective and beautiful they are.”

What’s your least favorite pair of earrings?

• “I don’t have any least favorite earrings yet. I love all of my earrings. I get them as gifts all the time.”

Where do you generally buy them from?

• “I generally buy my earrings from Etsy to support small businesses. Some day I hope to own a small business.”

How many pairs of earrings do you have?

• “I have 100+ earrings. This is a combination of earrings from my dad’s and mom’s house.”

Do you plan to continue growing this collection?

• “I do want to continue to grow my collection. It is my way of expressing myself and making myself feel more confident and comfortable in my skin. I have always been into fashion, and I find that earrings make a good fashion statement.”

Overall, Karmen loves each of her earrings individually, she finds them very fashionable, and she enjoys wearing them as her fashion statement. As I can see, she’s very passionate about her earrings and she doesn’t plan to stop her collection anytime soon. If you ever find, purchase, or decide to give her a gift, get her some earrings! She’d be happy to add them to her growing collection.