Ōyama Pendant

December 2024
10 karat white gold, vitreous enamel

I was approached by a client who wanted to create a pendant for his girlfriend with her surname Ōyama (大山, "great mountain") on it in kanji. After discussing a few ideas, we selected the shape of a Shōgi (Japanese chess) game piece for the pendant—not only does the outline of the Shōgi piece resemble a mountain, it is simply an iconic shape in Japanese culture. The kanji are inset and filled with black glass enamel.