What is Paua?
It is unique to New Zealand - it is the most colourful shell in te world - it is a species of Abalone (Haliotis Iris).
Paua are primarily caught for their meat, which is a traditional delicacy of the Maori. There is a strict quota system in place to sustain the management of paua fishery.

The real Paua shell material is unique and should not be compared to the cheap blue resin coated paua jewellery that has flooded the market. Our pieces of jewellery only use the real material, taken from thick paua shells and not treated in any way to artificially enhance colours.

All designs use the paua shell as is and explore the magic of this shell. Each shell is different in colour, making every piece of jewellery truly unique. The colours change when viewed from different angles, and it is this iridescence that make paua shell and the jewellery created with it magical!

How to care for your paua shell jewellery:
As all jewellery is made from Sterling Silver, this Silver needs cleaning occasionally. BUT as paua shell is an organic material, it can be damaged by some silver cleaners!

SILVO: is best and doesn't harm the paua shell. The fine abrasive in Silvo gently polishes both the silver & the shell, and will bring back the lustre to worn or scretched shell.

DO NOT USE DIPS! The silver cleaning products, that just call for dipping silver, contain very corrosive chemicals which eat into the surface of the Paua shell and take away the shine of the polished shell. The dips are excellent for cleaning silver chains, but do take care just to dip the chain!

ANTI-TARNISH liquids don't harm the paua shell, and slow down the rate at which silver tarnishes. These liquids are very similar to the new longlasting car polishes, in that they create a mono-polymer layer coating the silver.

SOAP & COLD WATER are no problem with any of the glues, and are useful to clean abrasive powder from the crevices in marcasite decorated jewellery.