I reached out to Jared ( @delongglass ) in the early part of 2020 with a sketch of this piece and asked him if he was down to collaborate and make it happen. After a couple back and forth messages, the birth of the glass cabachon and ~100 hours of metalwork, this is the result.
The concept of this piece is to highlight the duality of light and dark, affection and violence, life and death. In this case, a serene Japanese landscape lush with cherry blossoms and lotus flowers intertwined by breaking waves gives the wearer a sense of calming. Juxtaposed, are the bloody battles these landscapes hosted as Samurai’s enforced the land. This pendant will come with a custom wooden box which is still in the works.
I tried to bring some flare to this pendant while sticking to the minimal theme. A gradient of Rubies, Garnets and Sapphires circle the Gold Ruby Glass Cabachon. 24k Gold is inlayed in the center of each cherry blossom and lotus flower. Deep sculpted waves encase the back of the cab with windows to expose the cab from the backside. Topped off with a hand carved Lotus Flower bail.