Pearl Earrings and Jewelry Vogue: Japanese Temari

An ancient Japanese art form, colorful Temari Balls

Temari originated in Japan in the seventh century AD. Te means "hand" and mari means "ball". At first the mari was made using old clothing, such as stockings and tights, and the geometric patterns decorating the ball were embroidered using silk thread. Temari was therefore reserved for the wealthiest social classes since only they were able to obtain the expensive materials required. The servants of the wives of the Samurai competed to show their skills at temari-making. During the long voyages to the lands of their future husbands, young Japanese brides-to-be also used a fine fingering technique to display their most beautiful embroidery.

Fashionable Temari earrings

Temari, a luxurious craft, was used to celebrate important events such as births, birthdays or marriages. But tradition demanded that, however accomplished a temari might be, it should include a number of deliberate faults so as not to offend the gods, the sole possessors of complete perfection. Gradually, with the development of cotton, this ball embroidery technique spread beyond Asia and became accessible to ordinary people. The art of temari is now evolving, with
mothers making and embroidering balls for their kids to play with as they sing nursery rhymes. In the twentieth century, temari gradually gave way to rubber balls, used purely as toys. However, even if a polystyrene ball has replaced the cloth one that formed the mari, the original art temari has been undergoing something of a revival over the past twenty years or so. There are numerous uses for temari and there is certainly no shortage of design ideas: jewellery, earrings, key rings, and etc.

Violet temari earrings