The Lapis Road Medallion, Lapis Lazuli and Sterling Silver Pendant

Lapis lazuli has travelled a long way to reach hands that could shape it. Along the old routes of the plateau, countless artists set this blue stone in metal. Each of them lived, made and went unrecognized, and we know almost none of their names.

At the centre of this handmade pendant sits a round natural lapis lazuli cabochon. Around it are open floral petals, a twisted-rope border and a ruffled, irregular edge, all in oxidized sterling silver. It evokes the lapis road in a general way, not any single place. Roozbeh Rastegar of Rooz Jewellery in Toronto carved the medallion in wax and then made it into sterling silver. The stone's colour may differ slightly from the photos.

This is the Shards Collection at its most devoted. It remembers the childhood days Roozbeh spent at ancient Iranian sites beside a painter father, and it honours the artists who were never named. Choose this pendant and you take part in that. You support an artist working in your own city, and you wear art that turns you into a small, proud gallery.

It hangs from a hinged bail on a black genuine leather cord. Pick 18, 20, 22, 24, 28 or 30 inches, all at the same price, and Roozbeh will send the length you chose.