This necklace is handmade in Kabul by the men and women artisans of the Turquoise Mountain Foundation. Training and employing young people in meaningful creative jobs is vitally important now in Afghanistan when the young desperately need hope and a sense of purpose in a beautiful country tragically caught up in violence and conflict.

Agate has been used for its fascinating markings and colourways since ancient times. No gemstone is more creatively striped by nature than Agate. Thought to bring strength and confidence to those who adorn it, the stone was often used to decorate breastplates of armour in Ancient Germany where it was first discovered.