First designed in 1974, the Open Heart pendant was one of Elsa Peretti’s first designs at Tiffany and Co. and has become one of the most iconic in her design lexicon. The inspiration behind this piece came from a photograph of a Henry Moore sculpture; a void in the abstract sculpture gave birth to the hollow inside the Open Heart. The decision to slip the chain through the lopsided heart is in many ways what makes the design truly unique. That decision was the result of conversations between Peretti and her fabricators in the Tiffany workrooms. Over the years, Peretti adapted her heart design, rounding out the form and sometimes even filling in the empty space. This curvaceous red heart pendant could have been suspended from black silk cord or a “lion tail silk belt.”