Beauty of the pearl

If you take a look at my listed items on Chic Infinity, you’ll undoubtedly notice that pearls are a big component in my designs albeit not real pearls (can’t afford them yet! But I do have some nice freshwater pearls that are just waiting for me to do something with them).

My fascination with pearls didn’t come about until last September when I had the opportunity to visit a pearl farm during harvest and experience first hand, how South Sea pearls are created. I used to think that pearls are rather ordinary beings, and after all, there’s a reason for why diamonds are chosen as a girl’s best friends but the more I learnt about how much effort goes into creating a pearl, the more enthralled I was with this jewel.

Did you know that for a well-cared for pearl, the oysters are literally treated like queens? They are injected with the nucleus at the beginning of the cycle and during the initial stages, divers go down to the seabed to ensure they are okay every other day and turn the oyster over to ensure the pearl’s roundness for several months. Then afterwards, the oysters, which are clamped into grids, are lifted up to the surface every week to be cleansed. After two years of hard work by the oyster, the pearl is taken out and if all goes well, the oyster would have spent all this time coating layers of nacre over the nucleus.

I’ve also discovered that pearls aren’t necessary for old ladies. Yes, the phrase clutching one’s pearls still make evokes an older woman but I’m hoping that through my designs, ladies out there can see that pearls can be incorporated into funky statement jewellery and that these naturally created gems are really something to marvel at.

Signing out from the “Pearl of the Orient”