Pearls that exude beauty and noble radiance from the very moment they are taken from their shells.
Among all gems, only pearls possess such natural beauty without the need for human intervention.
This mysterious gem has fascinated people across time and cultures, adorning various ornaments throughout history.
ANNADIAMOND uses pearls we call “Unique Pearls.”
This refers to baroque Akoya pearls—those with irregular shapes.
The reason we specifically use this term for baroque Akoya pearls
has to do with how the pearl cultivation industry has operated until now.
The History of Pearls
In the era of natural pearls, they were extremely rare and highly valued.
While all oysters with a nacreous inner shell—the lustrous inner layer—can produce pearls,
and such oysters exist in both saltwater and freshwater across the world,
most of them rarely produce pearls, and even when they do, many are not of ornamental quality.
Let us first unravel the enduring love for pearls from ancient times to the present.
In the ancient Orient, the birthplace of pearl culture, it flourished and
was introduced to Europe through the expeditions of Alexander the Great.
The ancient Europeans quickly became enchanted by pearls,
but a true boom had to wait until the Age of Exploration in the mid-15th century.
During this period, Columbus discovered large Akoya pearl resources in Venezuela, South America.
As a result, pearls began flowing into Europe in abundance.
Japan had also been exporting pearls since the time of Himiko,
and its reputation reached Europe through Marco Polo’s "The Travels of Marco Polo" written during that time.
With this influx of pearls, what was once a luxury exclusive to royalty
became accessible to the bourgeoisie by the 16th century, as prices fell.
One of the most famous pearl lovers of the time was Queen Elizabeth I.
She decorated her hair with many pearls, wore six-strand necklaces,
and dressed in a style so extravagant that even for her era, it was seen as excessive.
Later, imitation pearls made from colored glass emerged, bringing pearls even closer to everyday life,
but from the late 19th to early 20th century, a pearl bubble formed with skyrocketing prices.
This was driven by dealer price manipulation and the enthusiasm of America’s nouveau riche.
Particularly following the wartime economic boom of World War I,
most of the world’s pearls were exported to America,
where they became essential to bourgeois lifestyles.
It's no exaggeration to say that women devoted their lives to acquiring pearls and diamonds.
In the 1929 Great Depression, natural pearl prices plummeted, especially with the rise of cultured pearls.
However, the popularity of Coco Chanel’s black dress, which perfectly complemented pearls,
established the now-iconic style of “black dress with pearls.”
This restored their popularity.
After the war, celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn boosted the trend,
and pearls became the gem idolized by women worldwide.
While fashions may shift, pearls continue to be beloved.
Akoya Pearls Pursuing Perfection
The stable supply of pearls was made possible through the success of pearl cultivation.
Even today, out of 10,000 Akoya oysters, it’s said that only one produces a perfect round pearl.
Even with increased yields, it takes several to over ten years to create a uniform necklace,
and because of the high cost, countries around the world conducted research into cultivation.
After much trial and error, Japan succeeded in decoding the mechanism of pearl formation
and in the early 20th century, achieved the practical production of perfectly round pearls.
In Japan, a region rich in Akoya oysters, pearl cultivation became a major industry.
Akoya oysters were already considered the “king of pearl oysters,” unrivaled in beauty and roundness,
and using them enabled the production of increasingly beautiful, round pearls.
Initially, there were efforts to suppress cultured pearls for fear of depressing natural pearl prices,
but since they were indistinguishable from natural ones,
and could be made in matching size and color, their reputation grew.
Eventually, distinctions between natural, cultured, and imitation pearls faded,
and pearls became mass-produced goods for a mass-consumption era.
Discarded Baroque Pearls
In Japan, cultured pearls were developed to mass-produce uniformly round pearls,
and as a result, pearls that weren’t perfectly round were discarded.
It’s said that perfectly round pearls make up less than 10% of all cultured pearl harvests.
Even though a round nucleus is inserted to encourage round growth,
some pearls still morph into irregular shapes,
so it’s understandable that producers saw them as worthless.
Even today, some older craftsmen still refer to baroque pearls as “defective stones.”
However, baroque pearls have not always been treated as inferior.
In fact, during the natural pearl era, irregular pearls were more common.
Their unique shapes inspired the creativity of European artisans,
who crafted jewelry that showcased baroque pearls as the main feature.
Whether combining shapes to resemble something else,
or finding imaginative uses, it was a test of the jeweler’s skill.
A turning point came in the 17th century.
As the supply of round pearls increased, the popularity of drop-shaped pearls (a type of baroque) declined,
and the trend shifted to layering multiple strands of round pearl necklaces.
Also, baroque pearls often have a bluish hue,
but white and pinkish pearls were favored during this period, further decreasing baroques’ appeal.
Rethinking “Beauty”
What is it that people find beautiful?
Humanity has pondered this question for thousands of years, yet no definitive answer has been found.
When faced with a perfectly spherical, glowing pearl, we feel its beauty instinctively.
But the idea that roundness equals beauty is just one perspective,
and perhaps there is no such thing as universal beauty.
Beauty is something to be discovered.
There is beauty in roundness, and there is beauty in irregularity.
By shifting our perspective, we uncover new forms of beauty before our eyes.
As mentioned earlier, baroque pearls were once appreciated for their individual shapes.
In particular, non-Akoya oysters—like the black-lipped oyster, which often produces irregular but large pearls—
or abalone, which creates rod- or horn-shaped pearls—were prized for their strong presence.
In recent years, freshwater non-nucleated pearls and keshi pearls have gained popularity
for their natural origins and intriguing shapes.
Now that round pearls have become the standard,
more people are finding freshness and charm in non-uniform forms.
Even within the world of pearls, where beauty is already diverse,
must Akoya pearls always be perfectly round?
Surely not.
Pearls have long been shaped by the aesthetic standards of the times.
We, too, can shift our perspective and redefine those standards.
Beautiful, Sustainable Unique Pearls
Unique Pearls shed light on the baroque Akoya pearls
that had been excluded from pearl cultivation history in pursuit of roundness.
This is a new development in Akoya pearls, recognizing value
in the very trait—“not being perfectly round”—that once led to rejection.
No two Unique Pearls are alike,
and each is crafted into a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry.
Even a perfect sphere, if it came at the cost of countless discarded pearls,
leaves us questioning whether it is truly beautiful.
Unique Pearls carry not just aesthetic beauty, but also
the ethical beauty of honoring nature’s gifts without waste.
Another charm of ANNADIAMOND lies in traceability—you can know the hands that raised your pearl.
We use Akoya pearls cultivated in Japan.
Each one requires three to four years of hand care,
and pearl farmers nurture them daily with sincerity and love.
These Unique Pearls, small yet powerful, shine with brilliant strength.
<References>
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“The Pleasure of Art: An Easy Introduction to Aesthetics,” edited by Heisaku Harada and Tsunemichi Kanbayashi. Published by Koyo Shobo, July 25, 2002 (4th printing).
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“Introduction to Aesthetics,” Asahi Sensho 32, written by Masakazu Nakai. Published by Asahi Shimbun, May 10, 1999 (22nd printing).
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“A Global History of Pearls: 5000 Years of Wealth and Ambition,” Chuko Shinsho, written by Atsumi Yamada. Published by Chuokoron-Shinsha, August 25, 2013 (1st edition).
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“The Natural History of Pearls,” written by Kiyoshi Matsutsuki. Published by Kenseisha, March 12, 2002 (1st edition).