Reclaimed Baroque Pearls and Red Coral: A Color Block That Travels With You

A Demonstration Project

For this demonstration project, I tasked myself with looking at how chunky blocks of color could be married with pearls.

If you're lucky enough to have some baroque pearls lying around, you are my new best friend. Puh-lease set up some time on my calendar and let's chat. In fact, I'm not sure which I'll love more--you are the pearls. I'm deeply infatuated with them. While the world (and certainly the market price) generally favors a perfectly round pearl, I find the world of circle pearls, potato pearls, button pearls, stick pearls and especially baroque pearls just deliciously organic and alluring. Sure, the circles and the marks cut into the beautiful luster, but they also tell you that you've got something real.

When you hold them and really inspect them, you can get a picture of how hard the mollusk had to work to wrap organic material (that they would ordinarily have used to secure the slippery insides of their own shell) around something that has literally gotten under their skin. That mollusk had to work years to create that pearl before it was able to fished literally from the sea or the river to be claimed by you or your family as a treasure.

And while I'm less familiar with the harvesting practices for coral, other than awareness that humans have been prevented from touching the very best representations in the coral reefs, I do know that it is also difficult to come by and considered to be special. In Italy, I'm told, certain species of coral are considered to provide the wearer with good luck. I am also not surprised at this.

The question: what happens when two bulky things meet?

I love a bold color.

I wanted to explore what might happen if a bold strand of large chunky baroque pearls could share space with something equally bold and chunky but also warm and assertive. Some red coral rounds beads that I had reclaimed felt like the right size and color companion to these pearls. The saturated, earthy warmth sits against the cool white of a baroque pearl the way a lit window looks on a snowy evening, each one making the other more vivid.

The coral I chose for this piece was reclaimed: round, substantial chunks with real heft in the hand. Working with reclaimed material felt right for a remix project, where the heart of the work is giving existing materials a new life rather than starting over.

And then there was gold, which I brought in to stitch the two together with a little light.

I suspect some of you know this feeling well. You have a piece you love, and you sense that it could become something more vibrant, more alive in your daily wardrobe, yet you also worry that changing it might somehow diminish what it means. That tension is exactly where this project began.

What I already knew from my jewelry studies

First, it was important that the coral beads mirror the pearls in width and weight. Baroque pearls of this size carry real presence. Had I paired them with delicate coral branches or small coral beads, the red would have looked like a shy guest, present but not quite a part of the conversation. So I chose coral rounds of the same width and a similar weight as the pearls. I had eyed these coral rounds through an estate sale and been able to procure them at a reasonable price and had been waiting for the right project for them.

Second, the coral belonged together in a single color block. Gathering the coral into one continuous section allows each material to have its own uninterrupted stretch. The pearls can unfold as one long, luminous phrase, and the coral arrives as a single warm chord that the whole strand seems to lean toward. Matching the sizes also means the strand drapes evenly from one material to the next, so the color block sits naturally along the neck without pulling the piece out of balance.

Third, gold would serve as the bridge. Gold sits comfortably beside both materials. It lends the pearls a little warmth and gives the coral a frame, much as a thoughtful introduction helps two people from different corners of your life discover what they have in common.

A necklace that moves with you

This is the part of the project that delighted me most. Because the coral lives in a single block along a continuous strand, the wearer can turn the necklace so that the color rests wherever she likes. Rotated to the front, the coral glows near the collarbone like a small ember. Turned toward one side, it becomes an asymmetrical accent that catches the light when she turns her head. Moved toward the back, it lets the pearls carry the front on their own, with a warm surprise waiting for anyone walking behind her.

The clasp follows the same philosophy. I chose a large gold-filled hook and eye clasp that, again, matches the weight of this great piece. This gold item has no need to hide at the nape of the neck. It can sit at the front as its own focal point, settle beside the coral block as a companion, or rest anywhere else along the strand.

Together, these two choices turn one necklace into many. Each morning, the wearer gets to decide how much of that bold red she wants to bring into her day. Some mornings may call for coral front and center, bright and ready for a celebration, while quieter days may invite the soft glow of pearls with the color resting gently to one side.

For a piece that carries memory, I find this flexibility especially meaningful. Our relationships with the people we love, including those we have lost, rarely stay fixed in one position. There are days when we want their presence close and visible, and days when we prefer to carry them more privately. A necklace that can shift along with us makes room for all of those days.

What I considered and set aside

I considered alternating coral and pearl along the entire length of the strand. That approach has its own charm, but it tends to break both materials into small fragments of punctuation, and the pearls lose the rolling, continuous glow that makes a strand of them so beautiful. It would also have fixed the color in place, removing the freedom to move it around the neck that became the heart of this design. I also found that the color block, even when positioned at the front of the chest, feels affirmative for the wearer.

What I learned

Working on this strand reminded me that the qualities we love in a piece can be drawn out further when they are given the right company. The pearls were always both soft and strong. Placing them beside the steady weight of the coral, with gold carrying the light between them, allowed both of those qualities to come forward at once, so the softness felt more luminous and the strength felt more grounded.

It also reminded me that a piece of jewelry can hold more than one mood. The same strand that feels quietly elegant one day can feel bold and celebratory the next, depending only on where its owner chooses to place the color. That sense of choice, of a piece that responds to the person wearing it, is one of the gifts I hope a remix can offer.

Do you have a strand like this?

Perhaps you have a strand of baroque pearls, or a bulky set of beads that you love deeply but rarely reach for. Perhaps you have wondered whether a touch of color, or a new way of wearing it, might bring it back into your everyday life while keeping everything that makes it precious.

If the time feels right, I would be glad to explore those possibilities with you. Every remix moves through its own stages, from our first conversation to design and then to making, and each stage is given the time it needs. [If accurate: I take on a limited number of projects at a time so that every piece receives my full attention.]

There is no rush. This is your process, and we will move through it together at a pace that honors both you and the piece.

When you feel ready, please visit our How It Works page to learn more about bringing your pieces into a bespoke design.