Mermaid's Beads

Bead by bead. Branching, sprawling, entirely itself.

This is Hormosira banksii in its natural form — known variously as Neptune's necklace, bubbleweed, and here, most evocatively, as Mermaid's Beads. One of New Zealand's most distinctive intertidal seaweeds, found clinging to rocks in the surge zone of Stewart Island/Rakiura, where the southern sea tests everything it touches twice a day.

Each bead is a water-filled sphere — a tiny reservoir of seawater held within the frond, keeping the plant hydrated when the tide pulls back and leaves it exposed to sun and air. Nature's own engineering, elegant and precise. The beads branch and spread in every direction, catching the light with a translucent lustre that shifts from olive to amber to deep green depending on how it falls.

This one was washed up by the Easterly — driven in on the swell that tests every mooring at Halfmoon Bay, that carves the foreshore, that shakes the foundations and then, when it's done, leaves the most extraordinary things behind on the sand.

In its free form, Hormosira banksii is exuberant. Unruly. Generous. It doesn't grow in straight lines or tidy arrangements — it goes where it goes, filling the rock pools and surge zones of the southern coastline with its particular, unmistakable character.

The name Mermaid's Beads is simply what this species is. Not a composition — a creature. And a beautiful one.

Fits beautifully in a bathroom, a coastal home, or anywhere that celebrates the wild generosity of the sea.

What you're bringing home:

• Museum-quality, fade-resistant print — every bead and branch, preserved
• Hand-stretched over solid wood stretcher bars
• 1.25″ thick poly-cotton blend canvas (344 g/m²)
• Mounting brackets included — ready to hang
• A2 — 16″×24″ (40.6 × 61 cm)

Want the original? Hand-signed editions (NZ$360–NZ$900) are available exclusively at our Stewart Island gallery.

Take a little piece of the island home.
Island steady. World ready.

In compliance with the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), this product is manufactured by EASTERLY LIMITED (hello@easterly.kiwi | 6 Petersons Hill Road, 9818, Stewart Island, New Zealand) and represented in the EU by SINDEN VENTURES LIMITED (Markou Evgenikou 11, Mesa Geitonia, 4002, Limassol, Cyprus | gpsr@sindenventures.com). All consumer products meet EU safety standards.