The blue pearl captures your eye and draws you closer... Movement makes the colours shimmer and dance like sunlight on crystal clear water.

The Iris and the Pearl



NZ CoastlineThe iris is the most colourful part of the human eye. It is made up of layers of smooth, furrowed and radial ridges.These layers allow the iris to act either like a mirror or a sponge, sometimes absorbing light and sometimes reflecting and refracting light as a spectrum of colours.

The nacre is the most colourful part of the abalone shell. In paua it is made up of thousands of layers or randomly secreted aragonite and calcite crystals, which are bonded together by conchiolin. The nacre gives the blue pearl its lustre and hardness while the conchiolin acts as a mirror reflecting light back through the nacre to the observer for maximum light return, iridescence and colour.