By David Brough
MANAMA, Bahrain – Bahraini merchants can take years, even decades, to painstakingly assemble necklaces featuring meticulously graduated, rare natural pearls in a quest for artistic perfection.
The merchants, speaking at Jewellery Arabia (November 16-20, 2021), outlined the enormous care taken to put together exquisite natural pearl pieces.
“It can take many years to create the rarest and most magnificent natural pearl necklaces,” said Mohamed Abdul Razaq Al Mahmood of Al Mahmood Pearls, speaking inside his booth at the show.
Al Mahmood Pearls presented some remarkable necklaces at Jewellery Arabia, featuring natural pearls bought directly from divers, sometimes over a period of decades.
Al Mahmood Pearls
Mattar Jewelers showed off a necklace comprising at least 10,400 Bahraini natural pearls, underscoring the dedication and determination entailed in creating such extraordinary, one-off jewellery.
Mattar Jewelers
“These days we present a variety of accessories to showcase natural pearls alongside our jewellery, ” said Faten Ebrahim Mattar of Mattar Jewelers.
Jewellers at Al Hashimi pearls spoke of the need to wait many years, or decades, before a necklace can be finally ready with all the right pearls in place.
Some necklaces communicate harmony in colours, blending hues of white, cream, yellow, brown, green and pink natural pearls.
Others show off perfect white colours throughout — not off white or overly white, but evenly saturated white across the entire piece of jewellery.
White pearls are the most sought-after in the market place, Bahraini merchants said.
Ali Safar Jewels & Pearls presented glorious suites of jewellery combining Bahraini natural pearls and coloured gemstones, such as emeralds.
Ali Safar Jewels & Pearls
Pearls in such creations have been tested at the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (Danat), whose rigorous practices in the lab ensure that no cultured pearls will feature in the final jewellery item.
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