Maori Design Carved Ivory Pendant

The Maori design aesthetic is deeply powerful and symbolic, drawing on a long and rich tradition of the Maori people's carving, weaving, painting, and tattooing arts. Zealandia's lead designer, Jenny Byrne, grew up in New Zealand surrounded by Maori art and influence. Their designs in turn inspired her work and this carved ivory pendant that takes its shape from a traditional Maori fishing hook design.

The hook is hand set with fossilized mammoth ivory tusk accents. This gorgeous material is over 15,000 years old and has spent much of its life buried underground or in permafrost. Centuries in the earth color the mammoth ivory the soft cream to rich cocoa hues featured in Zealandia jewelry. Mammoth ivory is celebrated the world over for its luminous quality and age-old story. Holding a piece of this jewelry in your hand puts you in touch with an animal long extinct, and it reminds you of the fragile, transitory nature of life as we know it.

This Maori design pendant is embellished with abstract surf and curved patterns, lending the piece added dimension and bold visual interest in its hand worked sterling silver setting.