I have one of these white heart pendant necklaces, and easily a hundred people have asked me about it. It’s by Toronto jeweller Tosca Teran, whose studio is alternately known as Nanotopia and Nanopod. Teran’s pieces, most of which look like a naturalist’s specimens, are classified according to her own funny hybrid proto-scientific taxonomy, viz.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Earring
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Orthogastropoda
Superorder: Heterobranchia
Order: Opisthobranchia
There’s something about these that distinguishes them from other objects that reference nature – they’re sciencey, but also not. Maybe it’s the rounded edges that give them a sort of mysterious personality. My own doctor noticed my heart pendant one day and mentioned its anatomical correctness. I said “Yes! But doesn’t it have too many blood vessels? What’s this one at the back?” And she said “no, that’s correct, it’s the pulmonary artery.”
The Nanotopia website is here, but the Nanopod Etsy shop seems to be the place to buy items. There are some amazing photos of the jewellery in her Flickr and if you just search for “nanopod” on Flickr you can see photos her students have taken of her very nice teaching studio.