For hundreds of years, China and Japan have been the leader in the saltwater and Akoya pearl market. In the earliest days of pearl harvesting, it was difficult to find pearls that was both high in quality and had a perfectly round shape. Mikimoto was the man to develop and produce high quality, round cultured pearls in Japan and changed the pearl market forever.
Mikimoto began his first pearl oyster farm in 1888 where he began to develop his method for creating round, high quality cultured pearls. After working with the pearls, Mikimoto began distributing these cultured pearls in 1897 and continued perfecting his methods. During these years, Mikimoto ran into some competition from some other biologists developing their own pearl techniques. Mikimoto and other scientists used similar techniques - they would insert a piece of mantle tissue into the oyster, causing a pearl to form. After some fights and adaptations to patents, Mikimoto made arrangements with another biologist in 1916 and was able to really develop his business.
Mikimoto spent many years developing his cultured pearl techniques and it paid off. Mikimoto began culturing classic white Akoya pearls and was successful. He was however always intrigued by black and silver pearls and wanted to culture those as well. He started culturing Black South Sea Pearls in 1914 and his efforts finally paid off in 1931. It was in this year he cultured a giant 10mm black South Sea pearl. After having so much success culturing pearls, Mikimoto said “I want to adorn the necks of all the women of the world with pearls.” His dream was an eventual success with women worldwide recognizing Mikimoto’s name and wearing his pearls everywhere.
This new technology for developing cultured pearls really helped Japan’s business take off. By 1935, Japan had over 350 pearl farms producing high quality cultured pearls by the millions. Eventually, the uprising slowed and Japan was left with an oversupply of pearls. Mikimoto began to promote his pearls overseas in the United States and Europe. He opened boutiques in Paris, London, New York, Chicago, and other major cities that made his brand one of the first Japanese brands to have international recognition.
Because Mikimoto’s pearls were cultured and not “natural” he ran in to a lot of criticism. He was constantly defending his product stating that his pearls were only of the highest quality. At one time, he even went as far as to publicly burn thousands of low quality pearls to prove that he sold only high quality cultured pearls. He also took his pearls to the 1926 Philadelphia World Exposition where he displayed a replica of the liberty bell covered in pearls to further establish his reputation.
Even though Mikimoto died in 1954 his name and his brand live on today. Mikimoto was the official jeweler of the 2003-2008 Miss USA pageant, the 2002-2007 Miss Universe pageant and the 2001-2008 Miss Teen USA pageant. He was also posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure. Today, his pearl necklaces and other jewelry are still sought after and extremely valuable.
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