For at least 164,000 years, oysters have been part of the human diet, but people have been finding pearls in oysters for much longer — as early as 2300 BC when Chinese royalty received them as gifts.

In jewelry designer Cora Sheibani’s world, it’s not just the rocks and semi-precious stones that lead colorful lives. In her new collection Skin Deep, pearls show their many colors, too, dangling from ...