Audrey Hepburn knew it. Coco Chanel knew it. And modern-day stars from Rihanna to Keira Knightley and Angelina Jolie have also caught on to the fact that there is nothing like a string of pearls to light up a woman’s face.
“Pearls are very flattering to every skin tone, and have connotations of ancestry and heritage,” says Charlotte Byrne, acting jewellery and watches editor at the British-based society magazine Tatler. “What makes them extra special is that they don’t need to be cut out of their natural shape in order to be beautiful. They’re luxurious, incredibly valuable, but often not as ostentatious as cut stones, which means that they can be worn more easily with daywear.”
Pearls are perhaps less famous as an ethical jewellery choice. But as the only gemstone made by an animal, they are highly sustainable, particularly in the case of farms such as the Qatar Pearl Legacy, a project led by the Tahitian pearl brand Robert Wan, which has partnered with the Qatar Foundation and Qatar Luxury Group since 2009. Located off the Doha shoreline, the pearl farm houses a stock of 200,000 oysters, and has a cultural and educational programme that aims to revive the ancient tradition of pearling in the GCC.
“How do you get a cultured pearl? You just insert a tiny natural bead inside the oyster shell for the animal to recreate a natural process. To protect herself from the foreign body, she will build up layers of nacre that become a pearl. That is the only human intervention,” says Audrey Tcherkoff, the Dubai-based Middle East chief executive of Robert Wan.
Original article by Emma Bartley
Continue reading at The National:
The Qatar Pearl Legacy aims to revive the Gulf’s pearl-farming tradition
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