“Distinctive jewellery pieces made from vintage or reclaimed pearls and Czech glass”
£48.00
£33.00
£45.00
£145.00
£35.00
£35.00
£28.00
£35.00
£28.00
£35.00
£25.00
£22.00
£22.00
£85.00
Pearl & Glass came to be because I love pearls and want to share some of the fun and creative ways that they can be worn and enjoyed. My pieces are designed and made to be worn everyday and not saved for special or formal occasions. The Pearl & Glass motto is "wear your pearls and feel great".
The other motivating impulse behind Pearl & Glass was sustainability and a rejection of fast fashion. I only use reclaimed, vintage or antique pearls. There are so many beautiful pearls stuck and unloved in fusty designs or that have languished in a drawer for years because Grandma kept them 'for best' and never wore them. I gather up these beauties and rework them into contemporary designs to give them an exciting new life. My jewellery is slow fashion and it's built to last. I don't make many pieces each year and I only use solid sterling silver (and sometimes rolled gold, which is higher quality than gold plated and can last a lifetime if taken care of properly). Each of my pieces are a one-off because I am working with a constantly changing collection of pearls. I am a Cultured Pearl Association of America accredited pearl expert which means I hand pick the most beautiful pearls and I can tell you all about them and why they are awesome! I love to combine pearls with Czech glass beads and most of the designs feature glass along with the pearls. It enables me to bring a lot of colour and texture into the designs and the jewel tones of the glass really makes the pearls glow.
About the Pearls
At Pearl & Glass you won't find any generic 'pearls', instead you will learn exactly what type of pearls are used in each piece, their history, and why they are special. The pearls I use are all real, authentic pearls that have been farmed ('cultured') during the last 100 years. Whilst some 'wild' pearls do occur in nature, these are exceedingly rare and collecting them had the effect of depleting stocks of wild oysters. People had been experimenting with pearl farming for centuries but it wasn't until the early 20th Century that techniques were refined and the pearls we know, love, and recognise today became widely available. Cultured pearls fall into two main categories, saltwater and freshwater. The early farmed pearls, pioneered in Japan by Kokichi Mikimoto, were saltwater and are called Akoya pearls. Because these pearls form around a spherical nucleus they are typically very round, and they have a high lustre. Faux pearls are often designed to mimic Akoya pearls. Other types of saltwater pearls are Tahitian (from French Polynesia) and South Sea Pearls (from Australia, Indonesia, Philippines and other countries). Most freshwater pearls are farmed in China and innovations in freshwater pearl farming methods since the 1970s have produced a wide range of different pearl forms. Most freshwater pearls do not form around a nucleus so are made entirely of nacre, making them extremely hard wearing. I love all the different forms of cultured pearls!
About the Glass
All of the glass beads that partner with the pearls in my jewellery designs are new glass beads made in the Czech Republic. Czech glass beads are renowned for their exceptional quality, their vibrant colours, and wide range of designs. Whilst some trace the origins of Czech glass bead manufacture back to the 3rd Century BCE, the glass industry took off in earnest in Bohemia in the 1500s and continues today. Czech beads are typically 'pressed' beads which means they are made in moulds, resulting in the wide array of intricate and naturalistic shapes. The beads are then fire polished which re-melts the surface of the completed bead creating the characteristic smooth look and feel.
Your jewellery will come packaged in a cotton and linen pouch and gift box made from recycled materials.
