Pearl Farmers Are Among the Hardest Working & Most Dedicated Professionals in the World
Each piece of pearl jewelry has a special story behind its creation before arriving in a Pearl FALCO Showroom.
From Day 1, pearl farming is a multi-year commitment. Pearl farmers must tend the mother oysters daily, caring for Akoya oysters from early development to maturity, which takes about 3 to 4 years.
Successful Akoya pearl farming involves changing hanging nets or ‘houses,’ depending on the oysters’ growing stage. The houses need to be relocated with the seasons to prevent high waves or cold water, all the while cleaning the mother oysters’ houses & shells to prevent seagrass or barnacles from disturbing the mother oysters and their habitats.
Once oysters are mature enough, a nucleus or bead is inserted into the mother oyster with a piece of mantle, the part of internal organ which create osyter’s shell. The mother oyster will begin to cover the nucleus with so many fine layers of nacre, creating a lustrous pearl in 1 to 2 years’ time. That’s why pearls sparkle, the luster comes from the inner shell of mother oysters.
Inserting the bead into a mother oyster requires the skills of a surgeon. If the insertion is off by 1mm, the quality of the mature pearl will be impacted.
After 5 to 6 years of steady diligence, at last, the mother oyster is ready to share her baby pearl with the world. Winter is the harvest season for Akoya Pearls. Cold temperatures help to make a pearl’s layers of nacre more delicate and brighter with luster, one of the most important values of pearls.
In the world of pearls, only Akoya pearls are born in four seasons and are renowned for having the highest luster among pearls.
After harvesting, during cleaning, processing, grading, and crafting each pearl jewelry design – each pearl in a Pearl FALCO Gallery has been touched no fewer than 3000 times by human hands. Mainly for grading and uniformity of pearl jewelry, only human expertise can bring the finest pearl jewelry to light at Pearl FALCO.
Pearls – The One Living GemStone Born in Nature Crafted with Human Love
While other gemstones might be made in a laboratory, pearls are born in nature and cultured with human love and devotion. No two pearls are ever alike. We wish to share the storied treasure & wonder of pearls with you so that you too would come to better appreciate pearls and their significance in legacy gift giving.
Due to global warming and a declining number of pearl farmers, Japanese Akoya pearl production has been decreasing steadily and is currently 1/10th compared with the past. In fact, in only the last 2 years, 80% of Akoya oysters died due to climate change. This alarming decline in oysters started its own social awareness campaign in Japan. As you can imagine, Pearl FALCO wishes to share the beauty of Akoya pearls with you and pass this great cultural tradition and art onto future generations.
