Tessera is an open source wearable pendant designed to hold a microSD card. Inspired by the traditional locket, which was created to carry personal objects close to the body, the piece treats data as something similar. ‍ Its contents can be kept private, exchanged with someone else, or passed on, making the pendant a vessel for both personal memory and shared histories.

The pendant can be reproduced, modified, and shared. Tessera responds to a digital culture in which much of our personal information is stored within systems that we can access but don’t fully control. It asks what data ownership might look like if data became physical again something we could carry, keep, and exchange by hand.

The name refers to the ancient Roman tessera, a small physical token used for identification and exchange between people. Tessera extends this idea into a framework for a file network with no infrastructure but the people wearing them.

Originally created for a live performance piece in San Francisco by Halim Medi.

Note* The pendant in the main photographs was lost wax casted, while the process shots contain a pendant made with silver clay and the molds provided. Both work fine, just different finishes for different preferences!