Materials In Bijoux MBee Items.

Karen Hilltribe Silver.

The Karen are one of the largest hilltribes in Southeast Asia with a total population of about three million spread throughout Burma, Laos and Thailand.

With the Thai government's prohibition on clearing hillside land, for mainly ecological reasons, the hilltribe people have had to adapt their slash and burn agricultural practices and abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle. Opium became a major cash crop for the Karen people, and in the early 1960's King Rama IX and Queen Sirikit undertook to help them establish an alternative source of income.

Jewellery experts were employed, as part of the royal project, to teach the farmers new skills to enable them to work as silversmiths. They were taught to handcraft items from high content silver (Karen Hilltribe silver is much purer than Sterling silver), incorporating their own unique designs.

Those skills have been passed down from one generation to the next, and the beads and charms we use in our jewellery are beautiful unique representations of centuries old Karen culture and art.

Alpacca Silver.

Alpacca silver is in fact not silver as such, but an alloy of zinc, copper, iron and nickel that closely resembles Sterling silver. The alloy may or may not contain a percentage of Sterling.

Alpacca was originally a trade name for a brand of nickel silver developed in Bavaria. It was common at the time to use names that would bring to mind the rich silver mines of South America. Nowadays Alpacca, often misspelt as Alpaca, has become a generic name for nickel silver, which is also known as German silver.

Unlike Sterling, Alpacca will not tarnish, nor will it rust or dull with age. On the contrary, it gets brighter with use and exposure to sunlight.

To clean your Alpacca jewellery, simply rub the piece gently with a cloth or soft toothbrush dipped in water to which a little washing up liquid or lemon juice has been added. Never use silver dip, as it can damage the stones.

Murano Glass.

Murano glass beads come in a wide variety of shapes, styles and colours. They are considered to be among the most beautiful in the world, and are highly prized.

Believed to have originated in 9th century Rome, and with its Muslim and Asian influences still very much in evidence, the glass-making industry had, by the end of the 13th century, become dominated by Venetian craftsmen. In 1291, ostensibly due to the fire risk to a city built mainly of wood, the government decreed that all glass furnaces in Venice should be relocated to the island of Murano.

As well as tightening the government's control over the industry, this move promoted an unprecedented degree of competition between the artisans. This in turn led to the rapid development of new and more complex techniques, and the production of the most exquisite glassware.

Soon, Murano glass had become so highly sought after that, in order to protect this valuable source of revenue for Venice, the government declared it illegal for craftsmen to practice their skills abroad, and harsh measures were taken to stop the disclosure of trade secrets to foreigners. However, eventually, demand was so high that artisans began to defy the edict and migrate, setting up glass furnaces throughout Europe and, later, South America.

Pearls.

Pearl Qualities