As pearls are the only gems to originate from a living organism, McKinney was inspired to take this stunning, baroque-shaped centrepiece as her muse and to create a piece of jewellery around it that echoed nature in its organic curves, textures and variety of colours. The result is a piece of wearable art with a tangible botanic verisimilitude, conveyed in part by the illusion of flowing movement in the undulating leaves of the ring as well as by the muted reflections in the pearl of the abundant colour in the surrounding gem pavé.

McKinney’s abiding affinity with Australian South Sea pearls is attributable in part to her close relationship with the independent, family-owned pearl farm which provides her with these gems of the sea – an association which goes back two generations of her own family. Located in the pristine waters of remote north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, the designer regularly visits the farm during the annual harvest and personally assists with the painstaking extraction of her pearls from their mother oysters.