Paris, France —The pearl jewelry of French designer Isabelle Langlois seems to roll out of  the waves and the mist of the sea. The French jeweler usually works in precious gemstones but she has just brought out two pieces featuring cultured pearls surrounded by diamonds. She drew her inspiration for the jewelry from a Japanese engraving of a pearl diver — a woman as like the traditional Ama pearl divers of Japan —with her precious treasures. « There is nothing more feminine than a pearl, » explains Isabelle Langlois, « I learned about them when I was very young from my grandfather who also had a pearl business. I immediately appreciated them for their warmth and palette of colors. » 

Radiant, lustrous, pearls sometimes seem to come alive. Because of their pale and shimmering hue, symbolically they represent the moon and so all that is feminine and their circular shape is a sign of perfection. The rare circular shape of natural pearls and the fact that they were enclosed inside a seashell also link them to hidden knowledge and esoteric wisdom. They also symbolize patience, purity and peace. In ancient beliefs in China depictions of dragons holding pearls —symbols of thunder — were thought to bring about rain. 

Isabelle Langlois is the daughter and granddaughter of lapidaries in the Jura region of France. Lapidaries are artists and crafts people who form stone, minerals and gemstones using the lapidary techniques of cutting, grinding and polishing. In short the designer was born into a world of gemstones. The house celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2022 and her jewelry can be found in her Parisian boutiques and in jewelry boutiques in France and more than 25 countries around the world.©Trish Valicenti  for The Gourmet Gazette. http://www.isabellelanglois.com, 29 rue Danielle Casanova, 75001 Paris, France. +33 (0) 1 42 46 75 00