By Sara Caruso
Humankind has long had a deep fascination with mother-of-pearl, its iridescent opal-like surface became a treasure primarily associated with wealth and royalty, the ancient civilizations of China, Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia where it was harvested from the depths of the sea floor and use to embellish jewelry, furniture, and architectural structures. Remarkably, its earliest use can be traced back more than 40,000 years to the Bardi Jawi people of indigenous Australia.
Mother-of-pearl, also known as nacre or MOP has a rich history in North American indigenous culture. Nacreous shells were among the things traded between indigenous people for thousands of years where it was used for jewelry, embellishment of clothing and personal adornment. Southwestern tribes such as Navajo and Zuni continue to incorporate mother-of-pearl into their jewelry, and fetishes and other art forms.
Hand-carved Zuni mother-of-pearl kachina
During the nineteenth century it was widely used to adorn fashionable vanity sets, cigarette cases, snuff boxes, desk sets, high-end tableware, and numerous other items in addition to buttons for clothing and jewelry for women and men. Today, mother of pearl is frequently used for inlay on musical instruments, clock and watch dials, luxury cutlery, jewelry, and home decor products.
Over the centuries, the harvesting and processing of nacreous shells — the source of mother-of-pearl — was a large part of the economy for countries with fishing industries, including Japan, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, and Mexico. Commercial harvesting of nacreous shells was originally done by individual divers, by freediving, sometimes to depths up to sixty feet on a single breath. By the early 1900s, most divers were replaced with trawling vessels. Today, the trade and import of mother-of-pearl is highly regulated to protect against overharvesting.
Nacre is the innermost layer of the shell of several species of cephalopods, gastropods, mollusks, including the chambered nautilus, turbans, top shells, abalone, and Pinctada maxima oysters. It is composed of aragonite (calcium carbonate) and conchiolin cemented together by natural biopolymers in a brick-and-mortar structure. These platelets of protein make mother-of-pearl incredibly strong, able to withstand the pressure of the sea. The platelets also interfere constructively with wavelengths of light at different angles, causing their iridescence.
Nacre acts as protection for the mollusk within the shell against irritants, such as parasites. If a parasite enters the shell, the mollusk begins secreting more nacre around the irritant —eventually creating a pearl.
No two layers of nacre are the same even within the same species of shell. Thanks to this uniqueness, its structure, and the hardness of nacre, the stacked layers of mother-of-pearl create an amazing durable display of light and color.
Today, the use of mother-of-pearl continues with two innovative companies located in the same building along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay — Aulson Inlay, LLC and Duke of Pearl, LLC.
The Aulson family history began when Ellen and Doug met in high school in Massachusetts. Ellen went on to become a teacher of marine and environmental science, and Doug got a degree in industrial engineering. Together with their daughters, Anja, and Jaimie, their passion for nature and technology inspired them to start Aulson Inlay, LLC in 2012.
The Duke of Pearl, also known as Chuck Erikson, has a long history with nacreous inlay material dating back to 1963 and 1964 that started with banjo construction and his first attempts at inlay work. Realizing the lack of quality inlay material, the Duke embarked on a journey that included serious experimentation with nacreous materials to create new types of mother-of-pearl laminates. It is a journey that continues to this day with Duke of Pearl, LLC.
Together Duke of Pearl, LLC and Aulson Inlay, LLC create amazing timeless pieces from mother-of-pearl for clients that range from home crafters to large scale manufacturers. Using highly specialized and proprietary processes Duke of Pearl creates strong veneer like sheets from mother-of-pearl. Aulson Inlay then places the MOP sheets into a computer numerical control machine, a motorized tool that uses a computer program to cut out custom designs for inlay used for everything from musical instruments, jewelry, and fishing lures to surfboards, furniture, backsplashes, and countertops. All the colors in their mother-of-pearl products are naturally formed by the mollusk. These natural materials are perfect for home projects due to their lack of chemical dyes and durability.
Aulson Inlay and Duke of Pearl have a wide variety of clientele and projects in their repertoire. For one client in Hawaii, the team designed kitchen cabinet doors. Each piece of veneer was a five by eight-inch sheet that had to be bonded into a big enough piece from which to cut the door. “It was like a huge puzzle,” says Ellen. “The more complicated, the better.”
Nacre is truly the mother of all pearls and mother-of-pearl seems to have endless possibilities — just ask The Duke.
