Founder of Vintouch Alessandro Ricevuto uses pearls to get modern, minimal designs adding an extra layer of elegance. This petite 'Isabella' necklace is strung with freshwater pearls that gently graduate in size and it's centred with a small hand-carved from porcelain cameo that is handset in 18-karat gold-plated recycled silver. Layer it over similar pieces from the Italian brand. Cast from 18 karat gold over Sterling Silver. (1 micron thickness). To protect gold-plating from natural oxidation, a 0. 10 micron palladium plate is applied before the gold-plating process. Palladium is an anti-oxidizing precious metal. Entirely handcrafted in our workshops in the town of Torre del Greco, Italy, our cameos are hand-carved from a special, exquisite porcelain known as 'biscuit', made of the same mineral oxides of the antique cameos carved by Greeks and Romans back to III century B. C. The manufacturing process of our cameos requires high craftsmanship skills and extreme precision: with the aid of a very fine chisel called 'bulino' we bring up the lines of the designs and enhance the harmony of the reliefs, before the cameos are fired up at very high temperatures in order to be finally set in precious metals. Vintouch Cameo Jewelry pieces are extremely resistant and they don’t need any particular attention. By the way, we suggest to avoid to make it in contact with soaps, cosmetics, detergents and chlorine, that could alterate the natural characteristics of the Jewel. When it is not worn, keep your cameo jewelry piece in its bag in order to protect it from natural oxidation. Only if necessary, use a suede cloth and delicately clean the surface of the Jewel. Each one of our jewel is nichel-free and realized in full compliance with the Reach/Rohs directives from UE.