Pearls are sensory items and have been coveted since time immemorial. Once the realm of royalty and the immensely rich, pearls were precious objects which could only be afforded by few. In the 17th century that all changed; a rosary manufacturer from Paris discovered that the sticky material on fish scales could be used to coat glass beads. Much later, in the 1950s, our founder Juan María Forgas developed a surprising formula that reproduced the process of creating cultured pearls and Orquidea Pearls was born.
Despite its name, the pearly mixture we use to make our pearls is not made of crushed nacre, but, as used by the rosary maker over 200 years ago, it is a highly developed formula made from small marine animal particles such as mussel sand or fish scales
The polymerization process.
The production of our Mallorca pearls carefully simulates the process by which an oyster makes a natural pearl as closely as is humanly possible and using much the same natural marine materials.
The pearl is made by coating a tiny nucleus of white opaque glass, crystal, seashell or resin with essence d’orient.
The pearly essence, despite its name, is made from small marine animal particles and guanine crystals extracted from scales on the undersides of certain fish.
The tiny artificial core is repeatedly immersed into this mother-of-pearl mixture, then taken out and dried, over and over again, up to 40 times. Each time it is coated with a new thin layer of the essence d’orient mix it is heated with a gas burner. This amalgamates the pearly essence, turning smaller molecules into larger ones, and essentially sealing each new layer.
Once the pearl has grown to the desired size, shape and symmetry, it is polished and varnished. For other colours and shapes, we add coloured minerals to the bath, thus creating highly natural looking pearls in varying sizes and hues.
Thanks to the elaborate manufacturing process our organic pearls from Majorca are more resilient and robust, and therefore harder wearing than natural pearls. Sweat, perfume and make up do not damage them as easily, nor do fluctuations in temperature, which can have awful effects on natural pearls.
Besides this, there is the question of cost. A beautiful man made pearl can be purchased for a fraction of the price of a natural pearl and yet when worn it has all the elegance and style of the real thing. Not only can you look fabulous, but you don't need to worry about insurance, theft or damage in quite the same way.
Smooth to the touch and highly lustrous, our organic pearls are exquisite imitations of the real thing, made with much the same materials as a natural pearl and yet, an affordable piece of jewelry.
Often, only a pearl expert will be able tell one from another.
To see our organic pearls for yourself, visit the Perlas Orquidea pearl factory and the 2000 m2 exhibition room where you will find over 15,000 different items of high quality pearl jewelry.
