About Palau Home
The easiest way for us to tell you what we do, is to show you ...
My Story
Hello, my name is Yvette & I'm the creative designer of the Palau Home homewares & jewellery range.
I’d like to tell you my story personally, but as you are shopping online, I’m unable to do so. Face to face I'd encourage you to touch & examine the items, to feel the smoothness and to turn them over, as the shell design appears on both sides. All items are of the highest quality & unique, as no two items are the exact same.
The raw beauty of nature & walking stretches of isolated beaches, collecting shells, was the initial inspiration for Palau Home. From the natural designs in cross-cut shells, I design beautiful natural patterns & lay the intricate hand-cut shells for my homewares range, in consulataion with 2 indigenous artists. Being in my mid 40’s, I jumped off the corporate ladder, having worked in both public & private industries. I wanted a job that truly inspired me & left me feeling good, kept me smiling & made a real difference to our world. My BA & MBA degrees were well used, firstly harnessing creativity & design background, plus a broad business knowledge to start Palau Home.
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Palau Home is Darwin-based & the only chance I occasionally get to talk to people is at the markets in Darwin.. My passion and enthusiasm tell their own story, and the incredible quality range of products sell themselves. As you’d know, work these days, is simply by email & phone, with no personal interaction. So, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any additional queries or are heading north to Darwin.
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A brief summary of the production process is explained below & the video highlights the uniqueness of the artisan handcraft.
Many thanks for taking the time to read my story & I hope you enjoy your purchases tremendously.
HANDCRAFTED
AUSTRALIAN
DESIGNED
SUSTAINABLE
Our Production
Get a sneak peek into the process ...
We source our shells in a few ways, primarily by collecting a variety of shells in the Northern Territory, washed ashore & naturally dried. Shells are cleaned, assessed & hand cut with a diamond bandsaw to create decorative swirls and crosscuts that are highlighted in the designs.
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The mother-of-pearl shell is collected, cleaned, graded for color and cut into small individual squares which are carefully laid into the moulds. Colorful, costly premium Paua shell is purchased from New Zealand and hand-cut for smaller items & edges.
The cut shell designs are stuck to various mould shapes or bowls & coaters, by hand as illustrated. Once shells are stuck to the mould, these designs are dried. Designs are hand filled & solidly packed with resin & left to dry outdoors in the sun for a 2 weeks period. The excess resin is ground off to reveal the distinctive shell the pattern and design, highlighted by contrasting resin color once again. Each piece is carefully checked & completed by the application of edges and borders.
Lastly, items are coated with 3 layers of topcoat clear resin for protection, shine and long-lasting beauty. This premium quality finishing is completed on a small Javanese island, by an Indonesian community that has received national recognition for premium work.
Our range uses a sustainable shell, resin, a distinct single mould & nothing more.
