Pearls Find Their Home: Shari Turpin in Cowboys & Indians
As featured in the October/November 2026 issue of Cowboys & Indians magazine
We are honored to share that Shari Turpin, founder and designer of Pearls by Shari, is featured in the October/November 2026 issue of Cowboys & Indians magazine. In "Pearls Find Their Home," writer Alison Bonaguro introduces readers to the woman behind our Jackson Hole boutique: a horsewoman with a deep love for the outdoors and the American West, a designer of fine pearl jewelry, and a woman who is rarely seen without her pearls on.
For those of us who work alongside Shari every day, the story feels like a portrait we already know by heart. For everyone else, it is the perfect introduction to the woman, the vision, and the pearls that have carried a Jackson Hole brand across the country.
A Cowgirl in Pearls
The feature opens with an image anyone in Jackson would recognize: Shari on horseback in the woods, looking like any capable woman who loves the outdoors, until you notice the pearls around her neck.
Cowboys & Indians describes her signature look as Town & Country meets Cowboys & Indians. Most days, that means jeans, boots, and a crisp white blouse. Tailored and modest, but never forgettable.
| "Pearls are how I make the look my own."
That is the heart of Shari's philosophy. Pearls are not reserved for galas and anniversaries. They belong at dinner, at work, in the saddle, and with your favorite pair of jeans. As Shari tells Alison, it is the confidence with which a woman wears them that creates style.
Where It All Began
Long before there was a boutique on Broadway, Shari was a homeschooling mother making jewelry at her kitchen table, mostly stringing beads to sell to nearby jewelers. Then she strung her first pearls, and everything changed.
She was struck by how different they were from anything else she had worked with. Each one carried weight and meaning in a way beads never could.
| "Pearls captured me in a completely different way."
That fascination became a calling, and the calling became Pearls by Shari. More than four decades after she first made Jackson her home, Shari is now considered by many to be the worlds top female South Sea pearl buyer.
The Eye of a Curator
What sets Pearls by Shari apart begins long before a piece reaches our cases. Shari divides her time between our Jackson store and Asia, where she personally selects, grades, and hand-curates every pearl that becomes part of our collections.
She chooses each pearl for its luster, color, shape, and size. It takes 377 human touches over roughly five years for an oyster to produce a single pearl, and matching a fine strand can take anywhere from five to fifteen years. Shari has the patience for that process and the eye to recognize an extraordinary pearl among thousands.
In the feature, she explains why pearls hold a place unlike any other gem. Diamonds and colored stones are mined and cut. A pearl is formed by a living creature, entirely outside human control, and its beauty arrives fully formed. Nothing needs to be done to it. To Shari, that makes the pearl the most organic and beautiful thing a woman can wear.
She also shares a piece of advice we repeat often in the boutique: do not keep your pearls locked away in a velvet box. Wearing them helps them keep their luster.
Designed for the Woman Who Wears Them
Shari is both the curator who sources our pearls and the designer who transforms them into wearable art. That dual role is what makes every Pearls by Shari piece feel personal. When she designs, she begins with the woman: how she lives, what she reaches for in her closet, and how she wants to feel when she walks into a room.
| "The right pearls don't overwhelm her. They reveal her."
It is a belief that shapes everything we do, from the collections Shari designs in Jackson Hole to the way we help each client find the piece that feels like her own.
Why Leaders Wear Pearls
The article also touches on the long tradition of pearls among women in leadership. Shari points out that royalty, judges, corporate CEOs, and nearly every First Lady have been portrayed wearing pearls. Jackie Kennedy Onassis famously believed pearls were right for any occasion, and Shari agrees. Pearls bridge every part of a woman's life, from the boardroom to the barn.
Pearls Find Their Home
The feature takes its title from a saying we share often in the boutique: "Pearls find their home." Each pearl is unique, and no two are alike. Neither are the women who wear them.
For many visitors, a stop at Pearls by Shari at 90 E. Broadway has become part of their Jackson Hole tradition. Shari describes it as something that becomes part of a family's story, a meaningful moment that is passed down along with the pearls themselves.
As the article closes, style is not about following a formula. It is about knowing who you are and choosing the details that express it with confidence. For Shari, those details have always been pearls.
Shari's Best of the West
The magazine also asked Shari for a few of her everyday favorites from a life spent in and around Jackson:
- Westernwear: Lucky Brand jeans and Lucchese ostrich boots, finished with pearls, of course.
- Horse trails: Right out her own front door, plus favorite rides in Bozeman and British Columbia.
- Restaurants around town: White Buffalo Club, Cafe Genevieve for the eggs Benedict, and The Whistling Grizzly.
- Wyoming specialties: Anything with huckleberry, along with local venison, buffalo, elk, and antelope.
- Music: Celine Dion, Neil Diamond, Matthew West, Andrea Bocelli, hymns, and Christian music. Songs, she says, that lift the heart.
Visit Us
Pick up the October/November 2026 issue of Cowboys & Indians to read the full feature. Then come see the pearls for yourself at our boutique at 90 E. Broadway in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, or book a private appointment at Luster, our consultation space in Jackson Hole. We ship worldwide.
Your pearls are waiting to find their home.