May 19, 2009

Refreshingly fresh.

As we have already learnt, cultured or farmed pearls make up the majority of those that are currently sold. Mai Pearls use freshwater pearls in their designs and although freshwater and saltwater pearls may sometimes look quite similar they actually come from very different sources.

Natural freshwater pearls form in various species of freshwater mussels which live in lakes, rivers, ponds and other bodies of fresh water. These freshwater pearl mussels occur not only in hotter climates, but also in colder more temperate areas such as Scotland. However, most freshwater cultured pearls sold today come from China and this is the case with the pearls used in the Mai Pearls designs.

Saltwater pearls grow within pearl oysters which live in oceans. Saltwater pearl oysters are usually cultivated in protected lagoons or volcanic atolls. These oysters produce less pearls per oyster than the freshwater oysters which is why the price of saltwater pearls is higher than that of freshwater pearls.

Mai Pearls uses real, cultured, Chinese freshwater pearls in their designs, www.maipearls.co.uk.

Posted: May 19, 2009 11:11 AM