Ethics of Pearl use in jewellery:

 

Jewellers that state the origin of the pearl they use are to be commended. This allows the customer to make a clear choice on ethical grounds. Pearls sourced from reputable countries and suppliers should be encouraged (such as Broome; Japan; Tahiti).

 

Good quality pearls are made by sustainable farming of pearl bearing oysters and muscles. Because the pearl is a natural product (nacre) grown in water from living cells of a living creature it is susceptible to damage through use and mis-use – chipping, tainting (perfumes, perspiration), and dehydration leading to cracking. They are also expensive.

 

 

In China fish farmers who were losing money in their fishing business turned to pearl farming, this has lead to overproduction and fierce competition. Intensive farming has left some lakes so badly polluted that some provinces have banned pearl cultivation in lakes and reservoirs. The muscles used to grow the pearls eat plankton in the water, in an effort to increase production farmers use fertiliser to feed the plankton leading to outbreaks of blue/green algae which in turn leads to other associated environmental concerns. This fast pearl growth can be seen on the pearls as ridges.

    

 

In order to obtain the cheapest but best looking product the pearls are cultivated by placing a large plastic bead on the muscle thereby reducing the amount of nacre required. This means the nacre is very thin and prone to chipping. They also use unnatural shaped beads.

 

Once the pearl is harvested it goes to a factory for processing. This may include drillling, bleaching, tinting, dying, or skinning (all of which can weaken the nachre making it more prone to damage). There are many social concerns with factory working including: worker is isolated from relatives and friends; work is hard and dull; working conditions may be unhealthy (when a pearl is drilled the dust contains both nacre and plastic).

 

Artificial pearls are made by coating a core of some sort (mother-of-pearl, plastic, etc.) with a plastic or a kind of paint containing ground fish scales to look pearly to the eye (termed essence d’orient).  The range of artificial pearls range from high quality (such as Swarovski and Majorcan) to poor quality (such as from China).

 

 

Another form of simulated pearl is that of using the oyster shell. The shell is drilled and processed to resemble a pearl, these typically come from Vietnam.

Swarovski pearls are created in a laboratory by combining a proprietal synthetic pearl coating over a drilled crystal. The special coating creates a natural looking pearl. They are similar to real pearls in appearance and weight, but also in their ability to adjust to the wearer’s body temperature. They are very durable; resistant to scratches, chipping, UV light, perspiration and perfume.

 

 

 

 

 

I use good quality Swarovski artificial pearls because: they are less expensive and therefore I can keep the price of my piece to a reasonable amount; they are more robust; they look and feel as good as expensive real pearls and better than cheap real pearls; they are not impacting on the Australian pearl market. I feel I am making a sound ethical decision by not encouraging poor environmental and working practices in China.