Abalone, Turquoise, and Heishi Shell Santo Domingo Necklace

The extraordinary character of Our Abalone and Heishi Shell Santo Domingo Necklace begins with the abalone itself. Rather than being worked into conventional rounded or free-form beads, the luminous shell has been meticulously cut into tiny cubes, an unusual shape that creates four richly textured strands of shifting color. Each polished surface catches the light from a different angle, revealing the remarkable natural iridescence of abalone in flashes of turquoise, silver, green, rose, cream and oceanic blue. As the necklace moves, the colors continually appear and disappear across the four strands, giving the shell an almost jewel-like luminosity.

Abalone is the shell of a marine gastropod from the Haliotis family, prized for its extraordinarily iridescent nacre, or mother-of-pearl. Here, its natural beauty is inseparable from the remarkable handwork required to transform it. Each tiny cube of shell has been individually cut, shaped, drilled and finished by hand before being carefully arranged across four strands. The many small surfaces catch and reflect the light independently, creating a constantly changing mosaic of color. Small touches of silver punctuate the abalone, while near the clasp the strands transition into exceptionally fine brown shell heishi. Creating heishi of this delicacy requires tremendous patience and precision: each minute piece must be drilled and worked down by hand while remaining consistent enough to sit beautifully beside the next.

Although Kewa Pueblo lies hundreds of miles from the sea, shell has long been treasured there, reaching the Southwest through far-reaching trade networks and becoming an important material in Pueblo adornment. Abalone, with its extraordinary natural iridescence, has its own history at Santo Domingo, with historic examples documenting its use there by the early twentieth century. Generations of Kewa artisans have transformed shell through the painstaking arts of cutting, drilling, grinding and polishing, making the material an enduring part of the Pueblo’s celebrated jewelry tradition.

Our necklace was handmade by the same Santo Domingo husband-and-wife team whose work Jean Marie has selected over the years. Kewa Pueblo, historically known as Santo Domingo Pueblo, has a celebrated tradition of jewelry making in natural shell and stone, with techniques and knowledge passed from one generation to the next. The juxtaposition is particularly striking in this piece: centuries-old handworking traditions have produced a necklace that feels remarkably contemporary, with its geometric cubes, luminous surfaces and four cascading strands.

For Jean Marie, selecting the work of this husband-and-wife team has become deeply personal. Their friendship has given her an intimate appreciation for the extraordinary amount of time, skill and patience contained in each piece. It has also made her increasingly aware of how precious this knowledge has become. Fewer members of the younger generation are learning the painstaking techniques required to cut, drill, grind and assemble shell jewelry entirely by hand, making work of this caliber increasingly difficult to find.

This necklace is one of a kind, and that distinction carries particular meaning here. It is not simply that no two pieces of natural abalone could ever possess precisely the same color and iridescence; jewelry requiring this degree of specialized handwork is itself becoming rarer. Once this necklace has found its owner, there will not be another exactly like it—a singular piece of contemporary beauty that also preserves an extraordinary living tradition.

Length 21.5"

Strands: 4

Made in New Mexico, USA