What are pearls?
Unlike other gemstones such as rubies, sapphires, or diamonds, pearls aren’t created in a lab or mined from the earth. Instead, pearls are formed naturally inside of pearl mollusks - in the case of freshwater pearls (the only type of pearl we use in our jewelry here at Cherish Pearls), they’re formed inside of mollusks known as “pearl mussels”. For other types of pearls such as Akoya pearls, they’re formed inside a different type of mollusk known as “pearl oysters”. But regardless of their variety, all pearls are made of the same glossy organic material known as “nacre”. Which, as the mollusks grow, they secrete layer after layer of nacre, with each layer adding to the size of the pearls until they’re eventually harvested.