Turquoise and White Clam Shell Necklace Santo Domingo

Our Turquoise and White Clam Shell Necklace Santo Domingo is a beautiful expression of Kewa artistry, handcrafted by a talented female artisan from Santo Domingo Pueblo and specially commissioned through her long-standing friendship with Jean Marie. Three graceful strands combine luminous white clam shell with beautifully varied turquoise, transitioning from soft ivory near the neckline into clear blue and blue-green below. The composition feels wonderfully fresh and contemporary, yet every element is rooted in generations of Pueblo jewelry making. Its quiet sophistication comes not from elaborate ornament, but from exceptional natural materials, careful proportion, and the unmistakable presence of the human hand.

Clam shell has a long and fascinating history in Pueblo adornment. Long before modern transportation, marine shell traveled hundreds of miles into the Southwest through extensive Indigenous trade networks connecting Pueblo communities with coastal regions. Because shell originated far from the desert landscape, it became a valued material for jewelry and personal adornment. In some Pueblo contexts, shell may also evoke water, a particularly meaningful presence in the arid Southwest. Its luminous white surface brings a sense of lightness to this necklace and creates a beautiful visual relationship with turquoise, another material historically associated with water and sky.

The craftsmanship lies in the traditional heishi-making process for which Santo Domingo, or Kewa Pueblo, is renowned. Shell and turquoise are cut into small blanks, individually drilled, strung, then patiently ground, smoothed, and polished until hundreds of separate elements begin to flow together as harmonious strands. Turquoise has been treasured by Southwestern Native peoples for centuries and can carry associations with water, health, abundance, and protection, although meanings vary among communities and individuals. Here, differences in blue-green tone, matrix, thickness, and surface are not imperfections—they are signatures of natural materials shaped one piece at a time.

For Jean Marie, this necklace is as much about friendship and collaboration as it is about craftsmanship. Her appreciation for Native American jewelry began during childhood visits to the Pueblos with her mother, Philomena, and today she deeply values the relationships she has developed with the artisans she continues to patronize. Working directly with this artist to commission a piece especially for Pax Philomena allows traditional technique and personal creativity to meet in something entirely individual. Elegant, deeply handmade, and impossible to reproduce exactly, this necklace is wearable art rooted in Kewa tradition and in the personal relationship between Jean Marie and the woman who created it.

Made in New Mexico, USA 

Length 19" with clasp