The pendant is a single ribbed cockle shell, pale ivory, with fine beaded ribs fanning out from the hinge. It's a sò trắng — a white cockle, the kind that washes up along the shoreline of Khánh Hòa, on Vietnam's central coast near Nha Trang. The surf wears these shells smooth, so each one comes off the beach a little different.
Above it, small Umbonium button shells are knotted onto natural cord by hand, one at a time. They lie flat against the skin and pick up the light next to the larger shell.
Because the shells are found, not made, no two necklaces match. The cockle at the centre of yours is its own shape, its own shade — picked from one stretch of coast and strung by hand.
Hand-knotted in Khánh Hòa, Vietnam. Beachcombed cockle and Umbonium button shells.
