Pearl Jewellery

Four necklaces here, and the gap between ₹1,470 and ₹7,560 is mostly a question of how much pearl you are buying and how visible you want it to be. Two of the four are gold-plated, which in our workshop means a warm surface worked over solid sterling, not a gold-coloured base metal.

The Bindu Single Pearl Pendant Necklace in Gold-Plated Silver, ₹1,470, is the quiet one. Its chain is whisper-fine and 17 inches long, so the pearl reads as resting on skin rather than sitting on metal. It will layer under other chains without arguing with them.

Above that, the choice is really about where the pearls sit. The Noor Freshwater Pearl Choker Necklace at ₹3,170 stays high at the base of the throat and does its work on a bare neckline — noor means radiance, which is the point of bringing pearls that close to the face. The Moti Freshwater Pearl Mala Necklace at ₹4,980 is the most pearl-forward of the four, and moti is simply the word for pearl, so the name promises nothing the piece does not do. Freshwater pearls are never quite identical to one another; expect small differences in shape and lustre from one to the next.

Nisha, at ₹7,560, is for someone who would rather not wear the expected thing. The name means night and the pearl is black. Its toggle is worn at the front, so the fastening belongs to the design instead of hiding at the nape, and a chain-and-baroque-pearl lariat drops from it. Baroque pearls are irregular by nature, and that irregularity is the reason to want them.

All four are hand-made here in Jaipur in 925 sterling. Orders leave within one business day, shipping anywhere in India is free, the price shown includes GST, and there are seven days to exchange if the length turns out wrong on you. Pearls prefer to go on last, after scent and hairspray, and to come off before a shower.