Island Style
Gifts from the sea

By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer

Photos by Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

A mollusk is not a pretty thing. At least from the outside. They are usually gray and craggy and covered with little craters that look like out-of-control warts. Of all the creatures in the ocean, a mollusk seems unlikely to be the one that would normally inspire art.

Until its shell is opened.

Opening a mollusk can be like prying open a treasure box long hidden in the depths of the ocean. Iridescent colors explode from the shell, from pale gray-blues and soft golden tones to brilliant pinks, purples and greens. Now these gifts from the sea are being used to create one-of-a-kind wearable art by Hawai'i jewelers.

Marta Howell designed this bracelet ($380) and Pagoda pendant ($250) of black coral and Tahitian mabe pearl set in silver.

Marta Howell of Kailua has a master's degree in philosophy from the University Jagielonski in Krakow, Poland. She has taught languages, and has managed a beauty salon/spa and fashion business in Poland and an apparel company in Thailand.

Then this woman of considerable energy found herself living in the tiny seaside village of Kohtao, Thailand — population 900 — with no electricity, no car, no shopping malls and no television. Her husband, David, who was raised in Kailua, was in the ocean all day with his own diving company. So to pass the time productively, she started wandering the beaches, collecting shells. Soon she had quite a stash — "about 200 pounds."

She sat and polished them by hand, seeing that "Taking layers from the shells was like finding a new world within the shell." She began making little jewelry gifts for friends. After moving to another Thai island, Kohsomui, she sold her designs to tourists. When she and David decided to move to Hawai'i, she couldn't leave the shells behind. So she shipped them — "all of them," she says.

This gave her the raw materials for a new business. During the past three years, from her Kailua home-based studio, Howell has designed an extensive collection of bracelets, necklaces, pendants and earrings. Her work is contemporary and bold, not for the timid. She has an adjunct studio in Thailand, where others manufacture the pieces to her specifications, to enable her to complete more pieces and focus on design rather than craftsmanship.

She begins with mother-of-pearl, sometimes combining it with corals and semi-precious stones such as tourmaline, amethyst, citrine and garnet, as the muses move her. David taught her silversmithing, and she uses silver to bind the pieces together. The effect is often of a silver frame around the shells and stones. The shapes of the shells guide her, she said: "I see art in every piece of shell. It's a never-ending adventure."

Word has traveled around the world about Howell's jewelry. She now has contacts who provide her with shells from places as far-flung as Britain, Indonesia, Norway, Denmark, Australia and the South Seas. She often trades finished pieces for the shells.

Howell said the temperature of the ocean, age of the mollusk and algae and seaweed they eat help determine the colors the shells take on. Those from Sumatra have a golden hue; from Norway, blue-pink; and New Zealand's are green-blue. Howell said one of the properties she likes best about working with mother-of-pearl is that there is a shade that works with every skin color.

She said that when she is designing, she has six muses in mind, each based on a woman she has known in real life. They range from a graceful, feminine Hawaiian woman to a businesswoman "with attitude."

Howell is preparing for gallery exhibitions in Krakow, London and Madrid.

Her pieces sell for from $60 to $1,200. The largest collections are found at The Contemporary Museum gift shop, Britton Gallery in Hale'iwa and bibelotæin Kaimuki. On Maui, find her work at South Sea Trading Post; on the Big Island, at Volcano Art Center and Elements; and on Kaua'i, at Hula Moon.

Karla Brom of the Rainbow Collection helped design an Empress abalone pearl encircled with diamonds on a gold pendant, $2,800 at the Rainbow Collection.

The initial reaction to an Empress Mabe Pearl is often incredulity: "No! That can't come from nature!" The vibrant, iridescent colors of blue, turquoise, purple and magenta seem too intense to be natural.

But these colorful precious gems are cultured inside New Zealand's indigenous abalone Haliotis iris, with a little encouragement from Liz McKenzie, owner of Empress Abalone Ltd. of Christchurch, New Zealand.

The rocky shores of Fouveaux Strait on the South Island of New Zealand are ideal for abalone pearl culture because of their sub-Antarctic waters and fresh mix of seaweeds. It all comes together there to enable growth of these temperamental mollusks.

Empress Mabe Pearls arrived in Hawai'i for the first time last week. At the Rainbow Collection, owner Karla Brom met with McKenzie, looking at the possibilities the pearls presented. She was like a kid in a candy store, her eyes lighting up as she began to imagine all the design possibilities.

Silver and pieces of abalone shell are used to form a bold necklace ($500) and ring ($175) designed by Carrie Nottage Smith of the Rainbow Collection.

The abalone mabe come in a wide range of sizes, from 9mm to 20mm. Like many gemstones, they are marketed in three grades: gem, A and B. The luster ranges from a mirror-like surface to a dull sheen. The surface is generally quite smooth, although it may take on a bubbly appearance.

The most rare and valued hue is azure, but there is a range from silver to orange, pink, lavender, magenta, purple, green and blue.

Empress Mabe Pearls are found exclusively at the Rainbow Collection in Ala Moana Center. Prices for finished jewelry pieces range from $100 to $2,800 (with gold and diamonds).