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Ju/’hoan and !Kung San women still use the same millennia-old technique handed down from their ancestors to make ostrich eggshell beads. The beads were originally fashioned into simple pieces of body adornment by their hunter-gatherer forebears who roamed southern Africa to exchange as gifts and cement relationships with other bands. Today the making of ostrich eggshell jewelry is an important source of income for these communities.
Each shell bead in this jewellery piece is made by hand. The shell is sustainably sourced from commercial hatcheries that collect and sterilize the pieces of shell after the ostrich chicks have hatched.
With time each piece acquires its own distinctive patina from the wearer – the more it is worn, the more unique it becomes!
