Pearl Beads

About

Every pearl bead here was grown inside a freshwater mussel, layer over layer of nacre — the luster comes from within, and each pearl takes its own shape. That irregularity is where pearl design is heading: baroque and keshi shapes lead the shift from bridal-only pearls into everyday and men’s jewelry. Pearl is the June birthstone, alongside moonstone. For most of history the pearl was the rarest thing in the jewel box — Rome wore it as the mark of standing. Kokichi Mikimoto’s culturing changed that a century ago, and in the 1920s the farmers of Japan’s Lake Biwa carried the technique into fresh water, where pearls grew flat, stick-shaped, freeform. The biwa sticks, keshi, and baroques strung today descend from that break with the round pearl. Pearls have long been read as symbols of purity, wisdom, and calm. They are traditionally tied to the crown chakra and said to carry a calming, protective presence — the composure a strand of pearls lends a person, lent to a design. A pearl is chosen when a piece is meant to speak of quiet elegance, and of things formed slowly and worn close.