My name is Marine Duhamel and I am the founder of PrettyShinyJewels. With such a name, you might say I was destined to create my line of jewelry with Tahitian and South Sea pearls as a main focus! I love the ocean and all the gorgeous organisms, plants and animals that create that amazing kaleidoscope of life underwater.
It all started with how beautiful I found pearls to be, how clean and alive. Pearls are the only jewelry "material" that will die if you don't wear them. The natural oils from your skin will keep them fresh and full of luster. That was something that stroke my imagination and made me fall in love with pearls. My only problem: I really don't like the current designs for pearls that are available on the market. I want to make jewelry pieces that speak to a newer generation, or simply to a generation of women who reject the "prim and proper" approach to life that their mother's white pearls strands represent. I also loved "rescuing" vintage costume jewelry from the past that were so representative of their time period (the 20s, 30s through the 80s) and modify them to fit our times at the same time infusing them with a new life through the use of real stones like citrine, topaz or sapphires, and yes, PEARLS. The result is I think striking and unique. Each one of my pieces is one of a kind, always unique. Yet at the same time, they retain a certain style that I guess is my own...
Yet, I do not come from Tahiti or that whole region filled with one island more beautiful than the next. I was born in Morocco, though of French ancestry. There use to be a fairly large French community in Morocco, Tunisia and most of North Africa. So I was born in a dual world where artisan work was very prevalent and rich on the Moroccan side, and education and intellectual creativity on the French side was a given. I also traveled throughout my childhood to Nigeria and eventually to California , what I call "the formative years", which helped me open up my mind to different cultures and ideas.
I hope you enjoy my designs!