SHELL ORIGIN & SUPPLY
Empty shells from shell-fish that have been consumed by humans living on Islands or on coastal areas of the Indian and Pacific Ocean provide most of the shells.

Across North America, people consume millions of pounds of mussels, oysters and other shell-fish. Afterward, empty shells are thrown out as garbage.

On the contrary in rural tropical areas, once consumed, some of the shells are cleaned, polished or pearlised, and through a patented system of "decorative fitting to be used as handle" to make shells into functional items for daily use. The latest patent consists to strengthen shells to allow those to resist tensions and torsion, and make shells into fittings, handles and miscellaneous utensils.

In that regard one can say that most of the shell decorative fittings to be used as handles are among the most earth friendliest or ecological products on the market. The shell-fish would be consumed reguardless, and the remaining shells are processed into beatufly crafted items for your home.

Product Composition
ON AVERAGE, A SHELL HANDLE IS COMPOSED OF:

A/ 10% to 30% of the shell handle is a shell of a shell-fish being a reject of the food chain (such as fish bones by example)
B/ 25% to 80% is fill up sand, mixed with 11% hardening syntetic resin. (when there is only 25% of sand it means that a part of the shell remains hollow, such as handles of table wares)
C/ So this hardener consists of about 3% up to 9% of the shell handle.
D/ The metal fitting being 2% up to 10% of the item.

CONCLUSION: An empty shell + sand and sometimes air consists of 85% up to 95% of the handle volume.

The total of hardening products + metal fittings account for 5% to 15% of those same handles.

Contact Us
We love to hear from you! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us. Tahitian Home Accents 2251 NE 19th Ave. #51 Ocala, FL 34470 or email us at service@tahitianhomeaccents.com