To protect a centuries-old industry, a jewelry store in Bahrain showcases rare 100 percent natural pearls.
The Gulf monarchy takes great pride in its longstanding legacy of producing natural pearls, which are scarce outside the region.
Artificial pearls have saturated the market since the 1920s, but only Bahrain has outlawed their growth.
Faten Mattar, an employee at the family-owned jewelry shop, said, “We can’t mass-produce.”
She admitted it is “a challenge” to find pearls from divers and that finishing one strand of a necklace can take up to five years.
It may take over a decade to finish one of the more giant sculptures that can cost up to $25,000.
Mattar, however, noted that the fact that no two natural pearls are alike added to their allure.
“Everyone who owns or receives a piece of jewelry made with genuine pearls knows there is no one else in the world with an identical one,”
Mattar is one of the first women to join her family’s business, one of the oldest in Bahrain, founded over two centuries ago.
The jewelry, cuff links, and other accessories in the shop are all embellished with pearls.
She explained that the company’s mission includes “making pearls more accessible to everyone,” thus it sells more than just “big pieces,” including lines with designs for men and “daily jewelry for a younger crowd.”
The pearls sought after by the region’s royal families and European fashion firms were captured by Bahraini free divers who would spend months aboard traditional dhows. These wooden sailboats have patrolled Gulf waters for centuries.
However, the market for natural pearls collapsed with the Great Depression of the 1930s and the introduction of cultured pearls to Japan, produced by artificially propagating pearls in freshwater mussels.
A heritage site in northern Bahrain containing oyster beds and a stronghold where dhows used to set off is considered “the last remaining complete example of the cultural tradition of pearling” by UNESCO.
Among the skyscrapers of Manama, Bahrain is home to the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (DANAT), where young gemologists use cutting-edge technology and their own keen eyes to examine pearls.
Fatima Almahmood, a graduate of physics and gemology, watches while a researcher runs a pearl through an X-ray machine.
She indicated a screen projection of the X-ray scan and explained that “growth lines” detected by the scan set natural pearls apart from artificial pearls.
Established in 2017, DANAT provides pearl valuations for retailers and private consumers.
“You’d be surprised by how many clients come to DANAT that have inherited pieces and are then shocked to know… (they) contain cultured pearls,” says Noora Jamsheer, who runs the research institute.
Natural pearls are gathered in specific waters, and DANAT keeps an eye on those waters in addition to appraising them.
