Photo: Photolibrary.Com/
Graham Monro Three places where you can explore the allure of the pearl

WORDS MANAMI OKAZAKI

There’s something about pearls that has made these jewels of the sea a timeless classic. Maybe it’s their colour, ranging from pristine white and pale pink to mysterious grey, or their gorgeous lustre, or perhaps it’s their shape, whether a perfect sphere, a teardrop or a baroque (lumpy) beauty. Or maybe it’s their glamour – gorgeous, but never ostentatious, pearls have an aura of myth, royalty and luxury.

Desired since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the pearl entered its glory days during the Renaissance. World exploration and the discovery of Venezuela’s rich seas launched what was known as the Great Age of Pearls, and Dutch and Portuguese traders continued pearl hunting into the East Indies and South Seas. Today, three centres of trade are still in this area – Japan, the birthplace of the man-made pearl, Australia and Hawaii.

Pearl of the Orient: Japan

A statue of Kokichi
Mikimoto

Hans Christian Andersen left us some great advice: from something ugly something exquisite can come. Just as the ugly duckling went on to become the graceful swan, an irritant in a mollusc can grow to become a sublime pearl.

The demand for these rare gifts of nature has always outstripped their availability.

In the Ise region of Japan in the 1800s, jeweller Kokichi Mikimoto declared, “I would like to adorn the necks of all the women of the world with pearls” – but with foreign trade, natural pearls had nearly disappeared from the area. It was the spur for years of dedicated research.

a mikimoto
masterpiece

On 11 July 1893, after years of trial and error, Mikimoto lifted a bamboo basket out of the water to find his first small victory sitting in the shell of an oyster – the world’s first cultured pearl. He was soon cultivating black-lipped and silver-lipped pearl oysters commercially and expanding into areas such as Palau.

the ama
divers head out to
sea

The importance of his legacy can’t be overstated, though these days he’s probably best known for his exquisite jewellery, which still adorns the world’s crème de la crème. You can explore his labour of love at the Mikimoto Pearl Island in Mie prefecture, about two hours by train from Osaka. The island has over 350,000 visitors each year, who come to learn about pearl-farming techniques and browse the museum’s displays of antique jewellery alongside breathtaking modern works of art (see box).

Mikimoto Pearl
Island

If the sheen of the pearls and their history on the island isn’t enough to dazzle you, the ama pearl divers certainly will – James Bond was so captivated he married one in You Only Live Twice!

Dressed completely in white to stave off sharks, the (mostly female) divers go to depths of up to 15m in search of pearl oysters and abalone; the distinctive whistling sound they make exhaling at the surface is known in Japanese as the “elegy of the sea”. The history of the ama divers goes back a thousand years, and today there are still around 1,700 in the Mie region, trained from childhood and often still diving when they’re 60 or 70.

the
ama divers

The other fascinating pearling area in Japan is Otsu city in Shiga prefecture, 20 minutes from Kyoto by train. The entire process of cultivation and jewellery-making at this small freshwater pearl operation (see box) is on view, and the trip out to the beautiful Lake Biwa area–often featured in Japanese literature and poetry – is well worth the effort.

You can also buy pearls at reasonable prices!

PEARL GUIDE

Mikimoto’s Pearl Island is a must for Mikimoto pearl bargain-hunters. The island’s official visitors’ centre has a museum and jewellery shops with refined, elegant pieces by designers like Giovanna Broggian. 1–7–1 Toba city, Mie prefecture, tel: +81 (5) 9925 2028.

When in the Lake Biwa area, check out Tamura Shinju. 3–20–11 Hon Kataba, Otsu city, Shiga prefecture, tel: +81
(7) 7573 1825.

Tasaki Pearl is a highly regarded Japanese jewellery brand that rivals Mikimoto. Osaka city has two Tasaki Pearl branches within hotels:

• Imperial Hotel Osaka (also known as Teikoku Hotel Osaka), 8–40, Temmabashi 1-chome, Kita-ku, Osaka, tel: +81 (6) 6881 0118.
•The Ritz-Carlton, 2–5–25 Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka, tel: +81 (6) 6343 0887.
For a more accessible shopping experience, try one of Japan’s famous depato (department stores):
• Shinsaibashi Sogo has a pearl shop called Otsuki Shinju. 1–8–3 Shinbashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka, tel; +81 (6) 6281 3111.
• Daimaru sells pearls on its fourth floor. 7–1, Shinsaibashi 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Osaka, tel: +81 (6) 6271 1231.
Oshaberi Na Shinju, also in the Shinsaibashi area, is a specialist jeweller with beautiful original designs, which stocks all grades of pearls, along with baroque freshwater pearls. 3–3–27 Sanei Biru 4F, Minami Semba, Chuo-ku, Osaka, tel: +81
(6) 6282 0558.

An Absolute Pearler*: Australia

Glamour pieces to
win
hearts from
Paspaley Pearls

WORDS KIN LEONG

* pearler, noun (colloquial Australian) something excellent.

The first record of pearl shell being recovered from Darwin’s harbour was in 1884, but the tamarind trees found all around the Northern Territory’s capital are a living reminder that the pearl trade in Australia’s Top End goes back much further. Traders from Makassar in Sulawesi, Indonesia, planted them to mark their campsites when they visited to trade in sea cucumber and mother-of-pearl hundred of years ago.

In more recent times, the Paspaley family have featured prominently in Darwin’s rise to become an important hub in the multi-million-dollar South Sea pearl trade. When the bottom fell out of the trade just after the World War II, due to the invention of the seemingly innocuous plastic button, Nicholas Paspaley was one of the first people back into pearling in Darwin.

Affordable favourites from
Natural Charisma

South Sea pearls are cultivated by Paspaley in seawater, using the giant silver-lipped oyster, and tend to be larger and rounder than freshwater pearls. Teardrop and baroque shapes are still common, though, and they all come in a wide range of colours. Generally, the rounder the pearl the higher the value, but a unique shape can make for a more distinctive piece of jewellery.

When you’re talking about South Sea pearls, you’ll hear the terms nacre and orient dropped quite a bit. Nacre describes the layers of material that make up the pearl and give it its lustre; orient, which appears only on seawater pearls, is a characteristic of pearls that have nacre of perfect thickness and quality.

PEARL GUIDE

Begin your Aussie education on the history of pearls at the Australian Pearling Exhibition. Open daily 10am–5pm, except Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day and Good Friday; admission for adults AU$6.60, children AU$3.30, family AU$16.50. Kitchener Drive, The Wharf Precinct, tel: +61
(8) 8999 6573.

Start your pearl shopping at the Parap Markets (Saturdays, 7.30am–1.30pm), where you can find some of Darwin’s most accessible pearls. Natural Charisma (tel: +61 (8) 8945 2540) stocks freshwater cultured pearls in a wide variety of colours and shapes. It also has a stall at the Nightcliff Markets (Sundays, 8am–2pm) and Mindil Beach Sunset Markets (Thursday, May–October only, 5pm–10pm).

For something more sophisticated, consider Paspaley Pearls. Prices here vary, but fall at the high-end of the market. Paspaley Building, 19 The Mall, tel: 1300 888 080 within Australia, tel: +61 (8) 8982 5515.

A Pearl Harbour: Hawaii

Mystical
beauties from
Lynn Sien

WORDS SARAH PREBBLE

Pearls are still synonymous with Hawaii, even though no market-quality natural pearls have been found in Hawaiian waters since the 1800s. Pearl Harbour, the famed naval base on Oahu, got its name from the pearl-producing oysters that once proliferated in the surrounding water.

The days of natural pearls are long gone, however, and most of the world’s pearls are now cultured in freshwater and seawater farms. While Hawaii does have some pearl farms, today it owes its reputation to canny marketing of some of the best pearls in the world – importing the famed black, golden and white pearls from Tahiti and the South Seas, and the freshwater and Akoya pearls from China and Japan. Honolulu is a pearl buyer’s paradise, with prices well below those in Japan, and intricate jewellery designs touched with Hawaiian charm.

PEARL GUIDE

Founded in 1959, Maui Divers Jewelry has become world famous as the largest jeweller in Hawaii and winner of best retailer in Hawaii 2000 and 2005. The store started as a coral jeweller, but as coral reefs began to be put out of bounds to protect them from extinction, Maui Divers’ attention turned towards pearls. Try its successful Pick-a-Pearl service, where you purchase an oyster – guaranteed to contain at least one pearl – and then choose the setting you’d like for the pearl. 1520 Liona St., Honolulu, tel: +1 (808) 946 7979.

Lynn Sien’s distinctive designs are modern yet whimsical and touched with Chinese mysticism, marrying semi-precious stones with pearls. Her signature range – the Naked Pearls necklaces – features lariats of freshwater pearls fringed with tiny pearl tassels. Sien declares, “When a woman is naked, the only thing she should be wearing at the end of the day is a pearl: its translucence radiates on the skin in a magical way.” She sources both Tahitian pearls and cultured freshwater pearls from China and the South Seas for her designs. 1188 Bishop St., Honolulu, tel: +1 (808) 526 3839.

Bernard Hurtig imports Tahitian pearls of various colours, including aquamarine, green, blue, pink, gold, silver, purple and black. The pearl always takes prominence in Hurtig’s designs, and is usually set in classic pieces with other precious gems. And since his jewellery is created in-house, he sells quality pearls without a middleman profit slapped onto the price. Hurtig also offers budget-conscious customers the option of selecting a pearl themselves and having it mounted in one of his 120 jewellery designs, either in silver or gold. Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, tel: +1 (808) 947 9399.