Care
Pearls and natural stone are softer than they look. Very little is needed to keep a piece looking like itself, and most of it comes down to when you put it on and where you keep it.
The linen pouch your piece arrives in is untreated, and works as a cloth. Hand wash it now and then, without softener.
Pearls
Last on, first off. Perfume, sunscreen and hair products go on first and need to be dry before a piece touches skin.
Wipe them after wearing, with a soft dry cloth. Sweat and skin oils are mildly acidic and dull the surface over time. Never use a standard polishing cloth, which carries chemicals that damage nacre.
Do not soak them. If a piece gets wet, rinse in fresh water, pat dry, and lay it flat until completely dry. Water sits around the drill holes and the clasp longer than you would think.
Store flat, somewhere that breathes. A soft pouch in a drawer. Not a sealed plastic bag, and not a hot windowsill.
Keep them apart from everything else. Pearls scratch against metal and harder stones.
Stone
Sun is for wearing, not for storing. Rose quartz, citrine, aquamarine, aventurine and calcite all lose colour under prolonged direct light. An afternoon on your skin is nothing. A season on a bright shelf is what does it. Keep pieces in a pouch or a drawer when you are not wearing them.
Same rule as pearls on anything you spray or rub in. Perfume, lotion and sunscreen first.
Opal holds water in its structure and can dry out and craze. Keep it away from heat.
A soft dry cloth is enough. No ultrasonic cleaners, no chemical dips.
Store pieces separately. Quartz is hard enough to scratch softer stones sitting next to it.
Gold-plated steel
Our metal components are 0.5 micron gold plating over stainless steel.
Salt and chlorine wear plating faster than anything else. If you swim in it, and we do, rinse in fresh water, pat dry, and let it air completely before it goes away.
Soft dry cloth only. Anything abrasive takes the plating with it.
Stringing
Necklaces and bracelets are strung on 49-strand stainless steel wire. It does not rot, stretch or discolour, which is why water is a question of stones and plating rather than of the strand itself.
What it does mind is being folded. Lay pieces flat rather than dropping them into a bag, and a kink will not set into the wire.
If a piece needs attention
The clasp end takes the most movement, so that is where to look first. If anything feels loose, or you notice a kink near the fastening, write to us before it becomes a break.
