Inlaid Wood Table Tops – with Mother of Pearl

I never thought a blog about Italian furniture would have me writing about mollusks, but several of the newest tables we’re offering have some connection to these creatures of the sea. One of the tables currently on display in our showroom is hand-crafted from salvaged mooring posts from the canals of Venice; the trails left behind from burrowing mollusks are one of the table’s most distinctive features.

A couple of our other new Italian dining tables integrate genuine Mother of Pearl directly into the inlaid wood table tops. Since these tables immediately started generating client inquiries once added to the site, I thought it would be good to do a little reading up on Mother of Pearl — to see where it comes from and what makes it special.

It turns out that iridescent Mother of Pearl — or Nacre as its officially known — is produced by some mollusks to smooth the inner layer of their shells, and as a natural defense against parasites (and is also what makes up the outer coating on pearls). From its original state, Mother of Pearl can be tinted to match almost any color.