A classic choice of excellence, Akoya pearls are used to make necklaces and other pearl jewels that claim almost perfect round shapes, mirror shine and neutral colours.
They are considered to be more rare and precious than freshwater pearls and are the third most precious pearl commercially produced after the pearls of Tahiti and those of the South Seas.
Akoya pearls are cultivated in salt water in the oyster Pinctada Fucata Martensii (the smallest pearly cultivated mollusc) mainly in Japan, China and Vietnam.
Among these countries, Japan is its ‘undisputed’ production centre.
Between the saltwater pearls, the Akoya are those produced in greater abundance and, unlike their ‘freshwater’ cousins, the oysters rarely produce more than two pearls per crop.
The oysters are inseminated with a round nucleus of mother-of-pearl and a small fragment of epithelial tissue obtained from a sacrificial oyster of the same species.
The core is important because these pearls very often reveal a perfectly round shape, which, combined with the high gloss and relative rarity compared to freshwater pearls, gives them generally superior value.
The Akoya is generally semi-round or round, although each crop produces a percentage of different shaped pearls such as baroque, drops and buttons.
They have an average diameter of 7 mm and can be potentially produced in diameters ranging from 1 to the very rare 10-11 mm.
Most Akoya pearls reveal neutral colours and shades, ranging from white to grey, sometimes reaching pink, green or silver tones. Occasionally they turn towards blue with shades of silver and pink, but these colours are extremely rare.
Akoya pearls are the pearls of our imagination: soft, round and splendid because they shine with innate light.
Classicism is their strength, but thanks to their evocative shape, these pearls are also the protagonists of unexpected creations, which exploit their beauty and their perfection of form to create jewels with intriguing charm.
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