The pearls of Manacor

Surely when you think of jewels, pearls, among other things come to mind. The desire to adorn our bodies with jewels has existed since the beginning of humanity, and pearls have always been a sign of luxury and prestige. Up until well into the 19th century, being able to wear these jewels was something reserved for the classes that were well off, but the evolution of the manufacturer and a brilliant idea here and there allowed for more and more people to permit themselves the luxury of having a pearl.

But, do you really know how these beautiful  jewels are formed from nature?

For an oyster to be able to fabricate a pearl, something must enter it, by accident, a strange  foreign irritating body. The oyster will try to protect itself from this, covering it with a mix of carbon crystals made of calcium and a protein called conchiolin.

These two substances form what we call nacre, that will cover the inside walls of the oyster. Years later, ten to be exact, that strange irritating body will be covered in various coats of nacre and we call that a pearl.

Now that we know how laborious and slow this process is for mother nature, you can understand why we say that from the 19th century on, these jewels became more accessible. In Japan a series of experiments was started to insert manmade objects as the strange foreign object in an attempt to speed up the pearl forming process. But those pearls are not natural, if not cultured pearls, that also take their own time to form, but much less..

And that´s how we get to the year of 1890, when a German engineer migrated to France with experience in the creation of artificial pearls and decided it would be a good idea to found his own factory. That was the year that the company named Majorica was born on the island of Mallorca, property of Eduard Hugo Heusch, the enterprising engineer.  This company was, and to this day still is, characterized for its unique pearl creation process. The pears that they create are the so called ¨organic pearls¨. They are composed of an opaline crystal only nucleus, with the same characteristics as the best of the artificially cultivated pearls. This nucleus is covered, just like the oyster in nature would be, by coats of pearl essence, which is substance formed from organic elements from the Mediterranean.  The process in which the pearl essence is formed is one of the island's best kept secrets.

The Majorica factory, located in Manacor, is one of the most well known tourist visiting spots in Mallorca. There, the visitors can see the creation process of these unmatched jewels on free guided tour of the factory.  Interested visitors can also enjoy the expo and museum that were installed in commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the company.

Majorica receives orders from all around the world.  It´s headquarters is located on the Paseo de Gracia barcelonés, but like we mentioned before, the factory is still located in the same place where it was founded. There is also a great subsidiary situated on the powerful 5th Avenue in New York.

Practical information:

Address: Via palma, 9. 07500 Manacor, Mallorca.

Phone: 971 550 900

Store: November, December, January, and February from Monday to Friday from 7am to 5pm. March, April, May, June, and October from Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm. July and September from Monday to Friday from 9am to 8pm. August from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 9pm.

It is best to consult the opening hours of the expo and museum on the Majorica website.