Color

Uniqueness: The uniqueness of naturally-colored cultured pearls produced in TUAMOTU derives from their great diversity of colors and color nuances. Ultimately, it is this that makes these pearls such objects of beauty.

Body color: Right from the start, the grafter, by their choice of mantle or graft (epithelium), which could be compared to a "color catalyzer", influences the final color of the host oyster’s pearl, which will ‘inherit’ the characteristics of the graft.
Different color nuances can be contained within a single color, and with the colors of the rainbow as a color base, a hundred or so nuances of color can be seen (pastel, darker, lighter tones etc…)

Common colors, cyclically-recurring colors: Some colors feature regularly in all harvests, like dark green, light green, aubergine and every imaginable shade of blue. Other shades come around every few years (cyclically) or as a result of climatic conditions (to give one example, the El Nino effect) These colors include gold, pink and champagne shades, boasting color nuances to delight even the most experienced and sophisticated tastes.

Lagoon health: A lagoon which is well-stocked with plankton and phytoplankton is a vital factor in the development of aragonite layers and therefore in the development of the pearl itself.

Temperature: During warmer periods, the oyster will feed well (favoring the growth of both the pearl and the oyster, as well as fluctuations in the calcium carbonate ‘fixing process’). During colder periods, however, (June to September), the oyster feeds less, as if it were entering a state of hibernation. At this time the secretion of mother-of-pearl is at its slowest, but most regular and even (therefore the calcium carbonate layer is of a much more even finish). Pearls harvested during this period have the best luster, with a very brilliant gloss. It is for this reason that the Japanese Akoya pearl is harvested in winter, which helps to give it, despite its thin nacre layer, a gloss and shine that is world-famous.