All that glitters

 If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, then golden pearls are her new pals. Because ladies, gold is the new white.
 Far into the deep ocean off the Palawan islands in the Philippines, French-Filipino firm Jewelmer has spent decades churning out what was long perceived to be entirely impossible – cultured golden pearls. Unsurprisingly, they are being increasingly sought by discerning jewellery lovers and sophisticated young professionals.
Of course, natural golden pearls cost a fortune, but not just because they are “golden”. Natural golden pearls are a result of 323 strict steps that have to be followed religiously over up to five years in closely monitored natural habitat. Equally important is the true passion of the farm founder, who has spent years and millions to come up with the best solutions to produce such stunning gifts of nature while restoring and maintaining the biological balance of the farm’s natural surroundings.
“Nature gives us black pearls. And even though black is associated with bad luck and negative things, they became very successful. So I thought, why not aim for gold? Because gold is magic. Gold is wealth,” says French perliculture specialist Jacques Branellec. “We were the first to be able to make golden pearl from nature.”
A former charter aeroplane pilot, Branellec travelled the world cultivating his knowledge about pearls in Tahiti and Japan, before landing in the Philippines, where he fell in love with the warm culture, the friendliness of the locals and the perfect ocean pad for his pearl farm.
With his business partner, Manuel Cojuangco, he set up Jewelmer in 1976 with the vision of creating “the most lustrous pearls in the world”. It took the company 10 years to produce high quality white pearls, and another 10 years, with advanced technology and continuous, painstaking marine biology research, to come up with golden pearls, which are praised for being enticingly lustrous, perfectly rounded and 100 per cent natural.
Thirty years after its inception, Jewelmer became the leading producer of an exquisite range of golden South Sea pearls.

GIFT OF THE FERTILE SEA

Successful pearl farming relies immensely on the fertility of the ocean that the shelled molluscs, or shells as Branellec calls them, inhabit, and Jewelmer has proved that if the shells are happy and healthy, they make great pearls. Nature aside, science and technology can also help nurture young shells before being placed in the ocean. During the first few years of the gold-lipped shells’ nursery life, they are fed with 10 specific types of lab-bred plankton to ensure maximum nutrition intake. When they reach fullest maturity, small shell beads are inserted into their gonads to kick start the pearl coating process, which takes several years to complete.
While pearls are slowly taking form in the lush ocean bed, the shells are cleaned with utmost care every week to get rid of parasites and seaweed, to ensure that the mother shells are in the healthiest condition. “We keep the staff happy, too, not just the shells,” Branellec said, as he showed us around.
“Because if they are happy, the shells will definitely be happy. And most importantly, we must maintain the ocean’s perfect condition to get the highest quality of pearl.”

A REWARD OF PATIENCE

Jewelmer produces one million golden pearls every year, but only 200-300 of them are of high quality. And while it’s a pain to get nice, round pearls, it takes even longer to come up with a perfect string of pearls. Ideally, each drop of pearl in the same string should have the same size, colour and lustre. From roughly 34,000 high quality pearls, only 1,000 strings can be made. Hence, there are still many unfinished strings in Jewelmer’s vault, waiting for the right pearls to come along.

HOW TO BUY PEARLS

Pearls can be radiated, heated, polished, chemically treated or simply dyed with silver nitrate to give them various colours. With the bare eye, it’s almost impossible to notice the differences so it is best to purchase pearls only from respected, certified outlets. The GIA, Gemology Institute of America, suggests that you look for seven factors when buying pearls. The bigger pearl is the better, and it should be as round as possible. The lustre is one of the most appreciated characteristics of a pearl. It represents the intensity of the reflected light, that “inner glow” everyone talks about. An excellent lustre truly confers value to the pearl and brings true beauty and appeal. The degrees of lustre are: excellent, good and fair.
Also, the surface of the pearl should be smooth with no abrasion, blemish or bump. A pearl is considered to have a high nacre when the layer of nacre is thicker and thus the lustre is fuller. If a pearl is matte, that means the nacre is thin and the pearl looks chalky. The last point to keep in mind is the matching of a string, which is the consistency of all the other factors for more than one pearl.

WEAR PEARLS WITH STYLE

You don’t want to look like a real life Wilma Flintstone, do you? White, black or golden, pearls are a classic accessory that wonderfully match almost any fashion style, both casual and formally. First, pick the right pearl colour for your skin, and then accessorise down. Don’t wear pearls with lots of other accessories; it’s too hectic. And choose perhaps one pearl as a centrepiece. Don’t wear all at the same time. You can add a more juvenile, feminine touch to a simple string with chiffon ribbon or jazz up a simple white T and jeans with pearl earrings. And remember never to put on perfume when wearing pearls, as the chemical fumes can discolour your natural gems.

FROM THE DEEP
For more about golden pearls, visit www.Jewelmer.com
Further information about pearls and other gems is available at www.GIA.edu.