Beads

Trade beads, especially glass beads, are absolutely unique artifacts.

They combine value (as they have replaced money for thousands of years) and aesthetic value (they have been worn as ornaments).

They have been worn around the neck as necklaces and around the wrist as bracelets: in places where they were easy to watch and protect.

They last for centuries.

They passed thousands and thousands of kilometres.

They were respected, loved, adored, hated, objects of envy, pride, fight and worries...

They have lived with their lords for days, months, decades...

They were born in fire.

They were skillfully designed by masters.

They have been strangulated and hung on a piece of iron or fabric or rope...

They have been polluted by the dust of the road, sweat of exertion, blood of aggression and vengeance.

They have been washed by the drops of wine during celebrations and by salty water of the oceans and by crystal‑clean waters of mountain springs where the pilgrims quenched their thirst after long, long voyages.

Some have seen Rome rise and fall, some went to far, far islands, some passed the Silk Way and were traded to appear in southern Arabia, in central Africa or in Oceania.

They were worn, and traded and lost and presented and thrown away and found again and again...

They talk.

They tell their stories.

They tell the history of mankind.

They are more than just a bead.

They are the proud.

TRADE BEADS