What Is Mother of Pearl

Mother of pearl is nacre, the smooth lining on the inside of some shells. Turn a shell over on the beach and that lining is the soft rainbow the outside never shows, and once you know where it comes from you start seeing it everywhere, from old buttons to the earrings on a friend at lunch.

What mother of pearl is

Mother of pearl is nacre, the smooth layered material some molluscs lay down to line the inside of their shells. Pearl oysters, abalone and freshwater mussels all produce it. Nacre forms in very thin sheets stacked on top of each other, and light passing through those layers breaks into the soft shifting colours you see when you turn a piece in your hand. That play of colour is called iridescence.

For jewellery the shell lining is cut, shaped and polished flat. It can be set into a frame, inlaid into metal or carved into beads.

Mother of pearl and pearls

A pearl and mother of pearl are the same material in two forms. A pearl is nacre grown in layers around something inside the animal, so it comes out round or baroque. Mother of pearl is the same nacre laid flat against the shell. Our guide to freshwater, baroque and shell pearls explains the grown kind in more detail.

Mother of pearl meaning

Because it comes from the sea and the riverbed, mother of pearl has gathered a lot of meaning over the centuries. In many traditions it is linked to the sea and said to bring a sense of calm, and it has long been used in charms and keepsakes. These are traditions rather than promises, and they are part of why the material has been treasured for so long.

How to wear mother of pearl

Mother of pearl reads as soft white from a distance and shows its colours up close, which makes it unusually easy to wear. It goes with almost any outfit and works as well at a desk on Monday as at a long lunch on Sunday.

• Close to the face. Earrings let the iridescence catch the light whenever you move. The Eclipse Hoops split each hoop evenly between 22k gold plated metal and white mother of pearl, 2.5cm across, and close on a hinged lever-back.
• Small and quiet. The Whisper Studs lay white mother of pearl across the wings of a butterfly in a rose gold plated frame, about 1.5cm across, sitting flat on the lobe.
• Mixed into a strand. The Sienna Set carries beads of mother of pearl tiger eye among its tiger eye, so the shimmer appears in among warmer colours.

Mother of pearl with gold

Yellow gold warms the white of the shell, and rose gold gives it a blush. Both work, and both look softer against mother of pearl than they do alone, because the shell lifts the metal beside it rather than competing with it. If you mostly wear warm colours, start with gold. If your wardrobe is mostly white, cream and soft pink, rose gold will feel natural.

Caring for mother of pearl

Nacre is softer than most stones and does not like acids, so it needs a little care.

• Put on perfume, lotion and sunscreen first and let them dry.
• Wipe the shell with a soft dry cloth after wearing.
• Keep it out of water, and never soak it or use cleaning products.
• Store it on its own so harder pieces cannot scratch the surface.

The gold plated metal around the shell needs the same gentle handling, which our guide to caring for gold plated jewellery covers. You can see every piece with mother of pearl in mother of pearl jewellery.