About Bernice.
Bernice creates custom pieces of shell & coral artwork featuring a diverse variety of coral, shells and naturally discarded foliage.
Every piece is individually placed, taking many hours to create a piece of work she believes captures the natural beauty of the oceans inhabitants but also to preserve in a small way some of the varied species of shells and coral in a beautiful freeform work of art.
The shells are collected from many parts of the world including the Red Sea, the Maldives, Phillipines, Malaysia and Australia.
The Coral used has been harvested under strict Government controlled reef management. A licensed coral who has specialised in the filed for over 50 years supplies the coral used. Both the Commonwealth and State Government (QLD) issue the licenses. The areas that the coral is harvested from are designated by the Government to be areas where natural disasters such as cyclones or the effects of global warming are causing the reef to die off. By harvesting coral from these areas the desired result is that regeneration will occur. The amount of coral harvested is a total of .0001% of the total growth of the reef per year.
From the coral harvested less than 1% is wasted as the Government places strict guidelines so no excess coral is removed and not used. A portion of the sales from the harvester is donated to scientific research to ensure harvesting remains responsive to climate change and causes non detriment to the reef.