Jewellery

The Hawaiian jewellery I sell consists mainly of silver bangles that are engraved with their traditional jewellery design of ferns and flowers, found throughout their jewellery, paintings, carvings and fabric designs. These echo the flowers and foliage of the Hawaiian islands. There are also several other items including some shell jewellery - in particular, cowrie shell chokers - these are hand sewn on leather or hessian strips. Freshwater pearls are also very popular in Hawaii and I sell long strings of them that can be worn round the neck as a single strand, or doubled up, or even wound around the wrist many times.

The Samoan jewellery is handmade from palm fronds and coconut shell. These earrings and bangles are made in the villages of Samoa and give the women in these very poor villages perhaps their only income. Samoa is still almost a third world country with subsistence farming and a very communal way of life. The jewellery is generally sold in the craft and produce markets in Apia, on Upolu. Some of the jewellery is very fine, intricate and detailed work and some is simpler and more primitive and mostly in shades of brown, but all sales will help these people.

The jewellery from Bali consists mainly of shell jewellery. Not surprisingly, since this is a pretty small island and also pretty much third world, they take advantage of the available materials. There is extreme poverty, a large population and very low wages so that the shell jewellery is produced in bulk for very good prices. They make shell earrings, necklaces and pendants of all sorts. They mix wooden and glass beads of all types and colours with the shell jewellery - making some very different designs. They also have a real tradition of gold and silver jewellery manufacturing. The silver jewellery on my site was mostly made especially for me, not just mass-produced. These will not be found anywhere else, are unique. There are also some pretty frangipani necklaces, bracelets and matching earrings, mixed with pieces of shell, which are made in Bali.