A love of Pearls

One of the most popular and widely known birthstones for the month of June is Pearl. References of Pearl goes back thousands of years in scriptures and these highly valued gems have been used in clothing and jewellery among the wealthy for many centuries. One of my favourite myths is that of Cleopatra; who is said to have taken a pearl and dissolved it in wine and drank it as a demonstration to Mark Antony of the ease that wealth could be consumed. It’s not likely to be true but it fascinates me that the Pearl was the symbol of wealth and goes back to the ancient civilisations.

Pearls have various associated meanings, different religions, countries and time periods have associated them with the moon, wealth, wisdom, purity, mermaids…and the list could continue. In my youth, pearls were mostly associated as the jewellery of choice for older women. They have enjoyed a revival with many designers creating light contemporary pieces using pearl, not only in white, but also peacock and the rarer golden & black varieties.

The more I work with pearl the more I appreciate its beauty and versatility. The lustre of pearls although luminous is more understated than sparkling gems and there is almost a vulnerability to them, I appreciate I am personifying them and despite the fact that I have found them very robust gems with hardy nacres I still have a sense of fragility from them and for me that makes them more precious. One of the other things I find oddly charming about pearls is how cold they are. Have you ever noticed? When you first pick them up they are very cool and I quite like the surprise of this sensation when you touch them.

There is so much to talk about with Pearl, the quality, style, myths and meanings and as much as I enjoy exploring all these things, I will share some information on these in a later blog post, for today I wanted to tell you a little why I love Pearl and most importantly to wish Happy Birthday to all of you who were born in June – your birthstone is so beautiful and versatile that hopefully there is a pearl for you!