Shell Craft of Pakistan

Bone, Horn, Shell, Ivory

Shell Craft of Pakistan

Generations of craftsmen have worked with shell – cleaning, polishing, cutting and fashioning the objects by hand made, with the use of simple tools – retaining the original shape and colour and creating objects of remarkable beauty often by juxtaposing different colours and shapes.

Kauris and Shells

Generations of artisans have worked with shell – cleaning, polishing, cutting and fashioning the objects by hand with the use of simple tools – retaining the original shape and colour and creating objects of remarkable beauty often by juxtaposing different colours and shapes. Shells are fashioned into products as diverse as ash-trays and toys and trinkets.

The kauri is used extensively for making ornaments in the Northern Areas. Kauris are also widely used to make necklaces and trappings for animals. Apart from the local usage, kauris are used for making a large range of tourist souvenirs ranging from paper-weights to shell dolls (the kauri forms the head-piece).

Artisans use large sized conch-shells that are cleaned and polished and then converted for usage as table decorations while smaller size conch shells are fashioned into jewellery pieces like ear-rings.

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