The ocean has a million stories, and mother of pearl is one of my favourites.
We often use the terms interchangeably, but there’s a world of difference between the pearl and its mother. One is the gem; the other is the origin. Mother of pearl isn’t the pearl itself, but everything that makes the pearl possible.
Mother of pearl has been worshipped for millennia, appearing in ancient tombs and sacred objects, used specifically to house what was most precious. It was the chosen protector long before it was ever ornamental.
Amidst the glow of the
@softservices Theraplush Mother of Pearl launch, I’m looking at this ethereal, lustrous silk of the sea and am struck by the metaphor, as I so often am. It is beauty born from layers of time, much like how we care for ourselves and each other.
A lineage runs through the lustre, a memory held in the material. No matter how many layers of our own we’ve grown, we all started from somewhere, and from someone.
I hope you enjoy reading about mother of pearl — because really, we were all a pearl once, housed, protected, and brought into being by our mothers.
Love, Cat xx
