Some 70 years ago several fisher families moved from Madura to Java’s Eastern coast because of the profusion of sea life. During stormy weather, after all the nets were mended, they began making handicrafts from discarded shells. Capiz shells, or Jingle Oysters grow like weeds in shallow sea beds. Before the fishermen got creative, they were only collected for the meat and the shells were discarded. Now nothing is wasted.

These jingle oysters are cut and colored for windchimes and fashioned into salad bowls and servers by our fisherman-turned-artisan partners. The shells are prepared by these fishermen-turned-artisans and sent to our fair trade, in-house workshop in Bali to be finished and assembled into wind chimes.

We're very happy to be able to give some of the stringing work to other members of our local community, which is a great way for stay-at-home mothers to make some extra income to provide for their families.