Imperfect pearls: The new trend in luxury jewelry

I have never been much of a perfectionist.  My own worst critic, yes, but someone who strives tirelessly for perfection, no.  This is possibly due to the fact that I never tend to stick at anything that I don't have a natural ability for, which is just a way of saying that I am selectively lazy.  However, there are many instances in design where imperfections, (or shall we call them unintentional design elements?) become not only part of a design but enhance it.  Picking up the wrong crystal in poor light has led to many a discovery of interesting color combinations and I am a huge fan of anything that suddenly turns asymmetrical at the slip of a saw.

Pearls have always been one material in which I have actively sought imperfection.  Luxury jewelers in New York, London, Pairs and Dubai can keep their rows of perfect, plump pearls with perfectly preposterous price tags thank you very much.  In a world where almost everything we buy is mass produced and identical to everyoneelse's ,  I love the unique look of less than A grade pearls.  Each slightly textured surface is like a 3D map of another world,  a salty Atlantis where it has sat, patiently, slowly forming.  Layer of nacre, upon layer of nacre it has grown organically into a thing of beauty and the more unique the shape the more inspired I am to showcase the pearl in a unique design.

So I have been thrilled by the sudden surge in popularity of 'imperfect' pearls and the boost that it has given to my profit line.  Suddenly D grade pearls with deep grooves are now being fashionably labeled as exclusive 'ringed' pearls, and commanding hefty price tags, and other freeform types such as keishi and stick pearls are seeing a similar elevation in their status.

Perhaps the best illustration of this new turn in jewelry design is the new strain of colored pearls being produced by pearl farms in China.  These pearls have the smooth round shape and a lustre of such high sheen that the pearls appear metallic, especially when a dye has been introduce to the oysters while growing.  A strand of these exquisite beauties is expected to sell at wholesale for between $200 and $1,500, however until they were labelled, gathered and promoted as a new subtype, these pearls would have been headed to the discard pile as they did not fit the profile of the batch of pearls that were being grown. In fact, the farmers do not even know why a tiny percentage of oysters produce these high sheen pearls.  Colored Stone magazine summed it up by saying that the new type of highly desirable pearls should "more rightfully classified as accidents than achievements."

Of course, that won't stop the pearl farmers and distributors from aggressively marketing them as a high end product. 

While it is ironic that these 'reject' pearls should turn out to be such high quality, their adoption as a new luxury item as a new is an indication of the changes happening in the jewelry industry as we examine our attitudes to waste and look for ways to be more efficient and profitable in a difficult economy.