The Holy Cross harvested in a mollusc shell. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 17: Let your gold ornaments stay in the locker for some more time. Pearls just got a designer twist.

The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture has made a mark in fashioning pearls into quirky designs for jewellery and producing attractive gifts. They are being created in various moulds such as floral motifs, temple art, the Holy Cross, Hindu deities and designs symbolic of various religions.

The technology is simple. First, the designer mould or pearl nucleus is inserted into the bivalve mollusc (shell consisting of two parts). As the pearl starts forming, it takes the shape of the mould. Customised pieces of pearls are ready!

“When the pearl formation is complete, the mould inside is taken out and you get them in specific designs and sizes. After polishing and shaping them with fine tools, jewellers can use them as customised products,” said Sailesh Saurabh, a scientist with the pearl culture team at the institute.

This exceptional technology was developed at the institute following two decades of research.Though 52 freshwater mussels are found across the country, pearl harvesters use only two species.

According to the Indian system of gemology, of the nine maharatnas (diamond, ruby, yellow sapphire, blue sapphire, pearl, red coral, hessonite, cat’s eye and emerald), pearl has royal and elite association, Saurabh said.

“Pearl culture has become a lucrative venture, because the finished product sells at high price,” he said.

Explaining the steps, technical officer of the pearl culture centre at the institute Utkal Lakshmi Mohanty said the process involved collection of mussels, pre-operative conditioning, implantation of the graft and nuclei, post-operative care of mussels, pond culture of implanted mussels, harvest of mussels and pearls and value addition.

The institute has also mastered the technology for the nucleus (mould) preparation from indigenous raw materials at par with the imported shell-made nuclear beads.

“The indigenous moulds are crafted out of inexpensive and local ingredients such as egg-shell powder and mussel shell powder,” said Mohanty.

The technology has come as a boon for many entrepreneurs across the nation, CIFA director P. Jayasankar said.

“While we are training representatives from leading jewellers of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi, farmers from Jharkhand have also shown interest in learning the technology and try their luck with simple and designer pearl production.”

Some entrepreneurs of the country, eyeing a new genre of farm community through pearl culture, are also keen to manufacture the moulds of various shapes and designs.

“We have trained one such entrepreneur from Chhattisgarh who is now manufacturing the moulds and supplying to others interested in manufacturing designer pearls,’’ Jayasankar said.