SUKUMO PEARL
Photos credits • Kunihiro Fukumori
SUKUMO pearls, which are real pearls cultured in Akoya oysters and imbued with natural indigo from the inside of their nacreous layer, take two years to create.
Using the precious natural dye known as SUKUMO, the bead nuclei which become the heart of these pearls are dyed more than 5,000 times over the course of one year, in the barrels of the artisan kimono dyers of Kyoto, who take great care in carrying out the indigo dyeing process using natural lye. Following this, in early spring when the temperature of the sea is mild, each indigo-dyed bead nucleus is skilfully placed by hand inside an Akoya oyster by artisan pearl farmers, in the sea off Uwajima in Ehime Prefecture.
The Akoya oysters are lovingly nurtured in the Uwa Sea for about eight months; to allow the oysters to breathe freely, any parasites and barnacles on their outer shells are carefully rinsed off countless times. However, around half of these oysters will die without maturing their pearls, due to either the grafting procedure or rejection of the bead nucleus.
At the beginning of the new year, the pearls can be harvested from the surviving Akoya oysters which alone have been successfully raised. This is how after two years, at long last the natural indigo-dyed Akoya oyster SUKUMO pearls are born, shining with a mystical blue hue.
“When we first began to cultivate these pearls, I believed that even if we cultured them from nuclei dyed with indigo, most likely not a trace of the indigo tint would remain, as they are immersed in the sea water until they reach maturity.
But when we opened them after eight months had passed, inside the shells were beautiful real pearls with a pale blue tint I’d never seen before.
I was really surprised!
The fusion of the real Akoya pearls we raise in the Uwa Sea with traditional Japanese indigo dyeing has created a new treasure, one which I know will be loved all over the world.”
sukumo PEARL range
