Ocean and sea inspire Pua Jewelry

Photo: Courtesy Lauren Caldiero

The ocean and the sea floor are the inspiration for Lauren Caldiero and her business, Pua Jewelry.

Caldiero creates one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces set in 14k gold and in silver. “Every piece is designed around the shell,” she says. “If I like the shell, I figure out how it will fit into a piece.”

She free dives to collect the shells with her daughter Opal, her husband and a girlfriend along Oahu’s North Shore or on the Big Island’s west coast. “Sometimes I’m out there six hours at a time with my best girlfriend. We’re obsessed.”

Caldiero strives to be ecofriendly by using shells that have no life in them and employing only recycled and scrap metal. She also says her jewelry is made carefully, with a keen sense of the technical challenges. “You have to know what you’re doing with gold. If you make a mistake, it’s a $100 mistake,” she says.

“I have a lot of very loyal customers who want quality and heirloom pieces that will last a long time. That’s where, I think, it’s distinguished, because it’s made to last.”

Call ahead to visit Caldiero at her studio:
949 McCully St., #12
383-3050

Jewelry pictured range in price from $75 to $350.

 

 

 

 

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