The number indicated in karat gold signifies how many parts of 24 is made up of pure gold - think of it as a recipe highlighting how much of  the main ingredient there is.

You’ll rarely ever see 24K or pure gold used in fine jewellery because it’s ultra soft.  Instead, pure gold is alloyed with other metals - most commonly silver and copper to achieve the needed hardness and durability to hold gemstones, resist minor scratches or to change the metal colour. For example, 14k is 14 out of 24 parts pure gold with the remaining portion made up of other alloys such as silver and copper (for yellow gold) and nickel or palladium (for white gold). The higher the karat, the more pure gold it contains and therefore will most noticeably affect your material cost. ATTIC works primarily in 14K yellow gold because of its soft but warm yellow hue and lasting durability - but most of our collection pieces are customizable in a higher karat or different colour of gold.