The basics — all of the items in our Silver ranges (Pendants, Rings, Bracelets and so on) are .925 sterling silver, handcrafted here in Bali. No exceptions.

Red Coral

One of more popular lines, a number of clients have worried that perhaps we’re using coral mined from the reef — not so; all of the coral we use is farmed or ‘cultured’ coral from shell farms in Madura (a coastal area on the island of Java).

Unprocessed coral, by the way, has a mat (or non-shiny) finish. The coral is finished and polished with wax  after it’s cut to shape for its setting.

Fresh Water Pearl

Our pearls are also cultured from pearl farms in Lombok an island nearby to Bali.

Pricing on pearl tends to depend on the quality, size, shape and color — a large, symetrical, natural color pearl is usually the most expensive.

We try for a good balance — cost-effective pearls for export quality pieces.

Mother of Pearl

Most of our Mother of Pearl pieces are predominantly white with touches of woody brown, dark brown (chocolate) and black.

As with the coral, the Mother of Pearl is a cultured item — grown in the same area (Madura).

Sometimes, we craft the silver to suit the natural shape of the Mother of Pearl — alternatively, we cut and shape it to fit the setting.

You’ll also find Mother of Pearl in our fashion accessories — necklaces.

Shell

Our other shell settings are also cultured or farmed in Maduras.

Shell pieces tend to be very popular — they have their own similar but unique patterns and strengths — excellent for settings across sets or ranges of sliver items (the ring on your right matches with a pendant and earrings — the pattern is natural, distinctive (known as Tiger Shell) but close enough to match with others

Abalone or Pawe Shell

This is the only type of shell we need to import — Pawe is cultured in New Zealand and imported to Bali.

Abalone shells always have holes — which we seal with colored wax — and have great texture — they’re never flat and never the same. Meaning, when you order a Pawe shell piece, we can almost guarantee the shell will not look exactly like the photo… better of course.

Turquoise

We typically use two different kinds of turquoise: stone and turquoise powder. They are fairly easy to tell apart.

The piece on the left is naturally shaped stone (rounded, 3-dimensional). It can be cut, polished and shaped but still retains the rounded character of a natural stone piece.

The turquoise powder (picture on the right), is flat and can be pressed into fitting any shape of pendant or setting.

Gemstones

We use many different of gemstone like Druze, Peridot, Black Onyx, Ametyst, Green Quartz, Zircon, Garnet, Blue Topaz etc.

The art of working with gemstones is simply to fit or marry them to the silver… each piece tends to reflect the value of the stone which like silver or gold, has an international market value.

That’s all for tonight but if you have any questions about any materials, shells or stones or any of our processes or methods, feel free to ask — we’re happy to answer your questions.

Athina

We’re Beads Bali (well, you already know that).

The company, at this time, is made up of myself (Sean), my wife Athina and a group of local silver smiths and bead makers. There is also my wife’s puppy, Jolie, and my black lab, Mojo.

We live here in Bali, fairly close to the beach (I can see it from my window as I type this).

I’m fairly new to the beading business but I’ve been working professionally in Bali for the last ten years (or more) exporting handicrafts and furniture around the world with Indonesia Export.

My background is London-Irish (ethnic, not the rugby team although I did manage a short stint there while I was a kid).

Athina is originally from Solo on the island of Java – that’s very close to the recent earthquake and volcano if you caught any of that on the news.

The idea for making a specialist department to handle bead supplies and exports out of Bali was Athina’s – she believes that although the market is very competitive, there are actually only a few decent, ethical suppliers out there doing business and even less of those are based here on Bali with the resources that we have.

Athina is the one to talk to about new designs, sourcing beads and all of the creative, hard work. She is also the only member on the team with any concept of taste or fashion. Really.

I deal mostly with communication, logistics and being mean to people when they show up at our warehouse with lousy products. I do this very well.

You could say that Athina walks softly while I carry the big stick.

If you want to know any personal information about us, you can check out are blogs:

http://www.katakoe.com — Athina’s website — partly in English.

http://www.bali-belly.com — my website.

Or, you could email us at info@beads-bali.com

Up until about five minutes ago, I thought I understood the meaning of “Bali Bead”…

… I was wrong (sigh).

I had thought, silly me… SOOOO naive… that a Bali bead was a bead made in Bali. Apparently not.

According to one article:

“Bali beads originated in India. The Indians taught the Balinese how to make the beads. The majority of Bali beads today are still made in India. Some people differentiate between Bali and Bali Style beads.

Bali style beads are made the same way as Bali beads, but do not come from Bali – instead they come from India.”

It’s the overall tone of the article that bugs me – The Indians taught the Balinese how to make the beads… you’d figure “the Indians” might have called them Indian beads, wouldn’t ya?

More importantly, for me (and I admit, I’m a little funny about stuff like this) the article seems to miss the point somewhat:

It’s true, of course, that Indian culture and religion has played a very large role in the development of this little island culture.

The Hindu religion and culture arrived in Indonesia about 2,000 years ago – probably by Indian traders from Gujerati who were attracted to the islands by their riches in gold, spices, and sandalwood. And why not? That’s exactly the way Islam & Christianity also arrived here… trade.

Indian script has been found in Indonesia dating back to the 5th Century and shows that there were several Indian-style Kingdoms in West Java and Borneo.

Today, you can still see the remains of ancient monasteries and temples in Bali. In these places, the Balinese prices were consecrated into the Indic family tree as god-kings. Balinese script, which many Balinese kids still have to learn, is derived from the Palava script of South India.

Now, I’m no expert on Bali or Balinese history – I’m just reading from other (hopefully more learned sources) but it seems to me that a person saying, “the Indians” taught the Balinese to make beads is kind of like saying the Romans taught Americans how to make bridges and buildings. So, really, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Empire State are Italian but we call it American… maybe they’re Greek.

Let me put it this way: the Balinese have been working stone, wood and metal since the Early Metal and Bronze eras… BC, in other words. Between then and now, they’ve had just about every foreign influence you can point to or shake a stick at: Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Japanese, Malay. In other words, just like America, England or Ireland, many foreign feet have left impressions in the sand.

In no way at all does that mean that a Bali bead is really an Indian bead (or vice versa).

For our Bali beads, which are all made in Bali (natch), wood, glass and .925 sterling silver are the most common materials.

Like any handicraft in Bali, the beads are really made by hand… really. There’s no industrial process, no huge factory spitting out beads by the million.

The handicraft industry as I know it has always been a cottage industry.

On one level, that means the beads differ very slightly – it could be a bad thing but I find the concept of a unique article to be charming.

We buy our beads at prices that are a combination of silver weight in grams (material) and workmanship – that means certain items are more expensive just because more work goes into them… I’ve been purchasing in Bali on that system with beads, statues and furnishings for such a long time that it makes total sense to me.