Paua bead necklace

item details

NamePaua bead necklace

ProductionWarwick Freeman; maker/artist; 1987; Auckland

Classificationnecklaces, jewellery, artifacts

Materialspāua (abalone shell), silver, thread

Materials Summarypāua (abolone shell), silver

Techniquesbeadmaking, jewellery making

DimensionsOverall: 9mm (width), 2930mm (height), 9mm (length)

Registration Number1993-0038-18

Credit lineGift of the Friends of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, 1993

Overview

Paua Bead Necklace by Warwick Freeman consists of a long string of pāua (large New Zealand abalone with blue-green inner shell) beads designed to be worn in loops around the neck. The beads have been carefully shaped and hollowed from the rims of paua shells. Freeman made the necklace for the exhibition Bone Stone Shell, which toured Asia and Australia in 1988. Paua Bead Necklace is one of three necklaces by Freeman included in this exhibition. The other two, also in Te Papa's collection, are made of bone beads and flakes of stone.

Pāua dreams
Freeman was one of a number of jewellers who began to experiment with pāua in the 1980s. Starting with a show called Paua Dreams in 1981, Freeman tried to find ways in which pāua could be made 'precious' and liberated from its role as a mainstay in kitsch New Zealand souvenirs. Paua Bead Necklace marks one of the final moments in the jeweller's experiments with the shell, and it is the sophisticated display of the possibilities of pāua that lifts the material into the realm of craft and design.

Living in the Pacific
Paua Bead Necklace illustrates the unique qualities of New Zealand contemporary jewellery in the 1980s. Following international trends, jewellers like Freeman moved away from traditional precious materials like gold and diamonds and began favouring materials that had no intrinsic value. Made from a material that has become a mark of the unique qualities of New Zealand and its inhabitants, Paua Bead Necklace is a symbol of New Zealand identity. In the 1980s, Jewellery made from paua was embraced by a Pākehā audience who wished to celebrate their identity as inhabitants of the Pacific.