EAST PROVIDENCE -- Jewelry's place in the American culture has evolved over the last decade or so as its appearance shifts from mainly a historical marker -- think engagement ring or anniversary pendant -- to an everyday fashion accessory.

Colored gemstones -- from yellow diamonds to pink sapphires -- have grown in popularity as fashion-conscious Americans wearied of yellow gold and crystal-clear diamonds and sought other items to complement favorite outfits, varying hair tones or personal complexion.

The trend toward color has moved to pearls, a little-understood jewelry category where the ruling mental image is a traditional round, white ball. Varying shades of gray began making their way into strands of pearls a few years ago. Colored ones have followed.

"Over the past several years, [pearls] have been presented in a more fashion-forward, fun, way," said Helena Krodel, a spokeswoman for the Jewelry Information Center, a trade support organization in New York City.

This summer, Imperial-Deltah Inc., of East Providence, began marketing a "blue" pearl it imports from New Zealand.

Peter B. Bazar, president of Imperial-Deltah, came across the pearls through his sideline as a newsletter writer.

"I write about unusual pearls," he said. "The pearl business is a wonderful business because they grow pearls in very interesting places."

A newsletter reader mentioned the blue abalone pearls from New Zealand. At an industry trade show in January, Bazar learned that the producer of the Eyris blue pearl, Roger Beattie of Christchurch, was looking for a company to distribute the pearls in the United States.

"Off I went to New Zealand," Bazar said.

Pearls are formed when an irritant becomes embedded in the tissue of an oyster or mollusk.

The mollusk secretes crystalline and organic substances to isolate the irritant. A pearl is formed as these substances build up in layers.

Pearl farmers can induce the creation by inserting a foreign object into the mollusk -- these are known as cultured pearls.

In the case of the Eyris blue pearl, a plastic bead is placed into an abalone mollusk, whose bowl-like shell is a source of mother-of-pearl.

Workers have to be careful because abalones have a congenital health defect.

"The animal is a hemophiliac, if you cut it, it bleeds to death," Bazar said.

Divers working for Beattie harvest wild abalone, which are transported to salt-water farms off the coast of New Zealand. The beads are put into the mollusks and the animals dropped into rows of plastic barrels suspended along ropes stretched across harbors.

Over the course of two to three years, the abalones create a blister pearl known as a "mabe." The half-domed mabes grow on the side of a shell and are cut off when ready.

The result is an iridescent bluish-green stone with a flat side that makes it easy to place into a bracelet, pendant or ring.

But abalones are a free-spirited bunch, producing mabes of varying color and quality. The pearls are divided for sale into eight different color grades.

"The mollusk doesn't grow the pearl the same size every time," Bazar said.

He said he hopes his company can turn that inconsistency to its advantage, by helping retailers sell unique jewelry pieces that carry premium prices -- from $1,000 to $5,000 apiece.

"The reason I know it will work is it's a beautiful pearl," Bazar said.

People working in and around the jewelry industry said the blue pearl could benefit from consumer trends, but Bazar and his New Zealand partner have their work cut out for them.

Rising commodities prices and broadening fashion trends have pushed jewelry beyond the traditional materials.

"Colored gemstones are popular," said Dione Kenyon, president of the Jewelers Board of Trade, in Warwick. "They are a popular alternative to diamonds and gold because frankly the prices of both of those materials have gone up a great deal in the last couple of years."

The varying quality and shades of gemstones make them harder to turn into a commodity, she said. Designers have also turned to them to accentuate clothing, handbags and other fashion items.

"We've been embracing colored-stone jewelry for many years," said Darrell Ross, president of Rhode Island-based Ross-Simon Jewelers.

Interest in colored gemstones and alternative materials began rising five to seven years ago, he said, as gold prices started rising and yellow gold lost its allure among consumers. Colored gemstones filled the gap for retailers looking to maintain sales volumes.

Jewelry and watch sales grew 3.9 percent last year from $57.2 billion to $59.4 billion, according to Unity Marketing, of Stevens, Pa.

Unity predicts sales will increase 5 percent this year and reach $62.4 billion.

Sales of fine jewelry and watches -- those made from precious or semiprecious stones and/or 14-carat and above gold, silver or platinum, reached $51.5 billion last year -- 86.5 percent of all jewelry and watch sales.

Sales of cultured pearls make up a tiny fraction of jewelry sales in the United States -- about 2 percent annually for the past five years, according to Krodel, of the Jewelry Information Center.

Pearl sales suffer because the lustrous beads are often expensive and poorly understood by consumers, according to Unity Marketing's 2006 Jewelry Report.

"Perhaps the pearl-jewelry folks need to copy a page from the diamond marketers' 'book' to create a story or a tradition tied to pearls for the U.S. market," the report states.

"Pearls are one of the biggest misunderstood products in the jewelry industry today," said Pam Danziger, Unity Marketing's founder. "I think that's holding back this category."

To be successful, Imperial has to educate retailers and consumers about its new product, a task, Krodel said, typically left up to industry associations.

While diamond sellers pour millions of dollars each year into marketing the gem, pearl-trade associations have not, Krodel said.

"There's just not much money behind" pearl marketing, she said.

Danziger agreed.

"People have a lot of education on the value of diamonds," she said. "They've really got to roll that pearl up a big, steep hill."

Bazar understands the challenge, he said.

"Jewelry stores know diamonds," he said. "One of our biggest challenges is to teach them to love pearls."

In conjunction with its New Zealand partner, Imperial has produced marketing brochures and DVDs to tell the story of the Eyris blue pearl and how it comes into being in New Zealand's waters.

"If [jewelers] don't know what it is, they won't appreciate the uniqueness of it," he said.

A video production company should complete work on a television commercial by the end of the month.

Ross, of Ross-Simons, said marketing and education are the keys.

"If the jewelers can sell the story, people will buy the pearls," Ross said.

To learn more about Eyris blue pearls, visit www.pearls.com or www.bluepearls.com

pgrimald@projo.com / 401-277-7356