Without knowing her bloodline, Underwood came to slowly realise she had created the main symbol of her Greek island heritage: The Boukla – a round buckle decorated with flowers worn as part of the traditional women’s clothing of the Greek island of Kastellorizo.

The Boukla, a domed shield-like brooch-pin made of gilded silver decorated with flowers.

The Boukla is one of the most important components of the traditional women’s clothing of the Greek island of Kastellorizo.

‘Probably more than any other piece of jewellery, Kastellorizians identify with the boukla. These were six fibulae, or brooch pins, practical but ornate ornaments which kept closed the front of the women’s poukamiso, or chemise.’

(Bogiatzis, N.C., 2020, Kastellorizian Jewellery: A Dispersed Archive of a Past Culture, Halstead Press, Canberra).

Boukla Art reproduction by Full Gamut