Zealandia Designs creator Jenny Byrne was born in New Zealand and has woven her initial love of the natural materials found on the beaches and rivers of the world, and a fascination with spiritual and mythological art, into an unusual line of silver, gold and fossilized ivory jewelry.Zealandia Designs uses all natural materials, combining several elements such as silver, gold, fossilized walrus tusk, ancient mammoth ivory, semi-precious stones, ammonites, orthoceras, mother of pearl, and the vibrantly colored paua. Fossilized ivory, shells, and fossils are like human fingerprints, in that no two pieces are the same. Paua shell, a species of Abalone found only in New Zealand, varies in color from pink and gold to green and blue. Each ammonite is unique.
The fossilized walrus tusks used in Zealandia Designs ivory jewelry can span the neutral tones from creamy white to honey and reddish brown to black, depending on the minerals the walrus tusk was in contact with and the length of time it was in the ground before uncovered. This ancient fossilized ivory is anywhere from 500 to 3,000 years old. It is legally obtained from native owned land, having been excavated by Eskimo families from old village sites on St. Lawrence Island, Alaska.
Ancient mammoth ivory is a byproduct of gold mining being found in the layer just above the gold by both American and Canadian gold miners. Zealandia Designs uses mammoth ivory when they want a nice creamy skin tone. Occasionally they will use mammoth ivory from Siberia, which is generally whiter than North American mammoth ivory due to its resting in ice rather than soil.
Jenny selects the fossilized ivory and shells, like paua, appropriate for her design concepts. She explains her inspiration:
"The richness of hues developed by the fossilization of ancient ivory makes each piece of our ivory jewelry unique. The idea of using ivory as old as the petroglyphs and cultures that inspire me is very exciting as I like my designs to tell stories that honor the wisdom ancient people developed to explain and understand the forces surrounding them. I see early expressions of writing, art and ritual as having an innate power, and incorporate this into my designs as silent incantations or mantra."
Shop for Zealandia Designs Jewelry at Portland Mercantile Company or contact us for special orders at customerservice@portlandmercantile.com.
