LOVE FOR PEARLS
I love pearls. Natures wonder. I use cultured pearls in many of my designs, because the story and the cultivation of these beautiful gems from the sea amaze me. I work closely together with my supplier of pearls Marc'Harit. Marc'Harit secures the high quality of the pearls and shares the knowledge about the origin of each pearl.
SO WHY ARE PEARLS FASCINATING?
Pearl oysters need pristine water conditions to produce high-quality pearls. Any decline in water quality directly impacts oyster health, resulting in poorer pearl quality, which is why it is crucial that the pearl farmers protect the environment.
So when you buy a pearl, you should feel like you are investing in the world’s oceans. Every pearl is unique in its shape and colour, and the time it takes for an oyster to make this wonder is sometimes several years. Having visited some of the pearl farms myself I assure you every pearl I use is a true treasure from the sea.
Photo Iben Kaufmann for Marc'Harit. www.marcharit.com
Tahiti pearls, Golden South Sea pearls and pink freshwater pearls. In this photo also faceted and carved Tahiti pearls.
WHAT IS A CULTURED PEARL?
Cultured pearls means pearls that has come into existence with human interference. Today most pearls set in jewellery are cultivated. A nucleus is inserted in the mussel, but apart from keeping the mussels clean, this is the only human interference. The most known cultured pearl types are Akoya pearls, Tahiti pearls and South Sea pearls which are all saltwater pearls, and Freshwater pearls. Natural pearls are very rare and extremely expensive.
All pearls that used in my jewellery designs are in natural colors, untreated and graded using the official French Polynesian grading system – ABCD.
TAHITI PEARLS
They grow in the Black lipped oyster which produces black pigment and are found in the surrounding area of the archipelago of French Polynesia, Panama and Mexico. Their colours are naturally dark and range from grey to black and peacock green to aubergine; however, they can sometimes be very light in colour from white to yellow and pink all of which have grey overtones.
SOUTH SEA PEARLS
South Sea pearls are produced in White lipped, Silver lipped and Gold lipped oysters that inhabit the waters of Australia, New Guinea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Burma. White and silver lipped oysters creates pearls that are mainly white in colour with a range of overtones from silver to pale pink, whereas gold lipped oysters will create pearls that go from a light gold hue to a deep orange gold hue.
KESHI PEARLS
The word ”Keshi” is Japanese for ”seed pearl” and indicates a very small pearl. Today Keshi pearls can be found in larger sizes, as also the big South Sea and Tahiti pearl oysters produce Keshi. Keshi is pure mother-of-pearl and considering its growth pattern, very close to a natural pearl. A Keshi pearl comes into existence in the South Sea and Tahiti oysters by a coincidence when the pearl oyster has managed to belch out the inserted nucleus, but the process of creating the mother-of- pearl continues.
Find more info about pearls and pearl cultivation at www.marcharit.com