Before cultured pearls were available, pearls were retrieved from the ocean by divers. Not only was this a dangerous pastime, but also resulted in very few pearls with only one out of every ten thousand wild oysters producing a pearl of value. Although most precious stones and gems are forged from metals from the earth’s crust, pearls are the result of a biological process involving molluscs. Although mussels and other molluscs can technically produce pearls, this is much rarer and oysters are by far the most common source of pearls – including those found in Lullu’s luxury pearl jewellery.