Pearls were considered as one of the rare objects of the planet in the past since people had to rely completely on the natural sources for the supply of these beautiful elements. Jewellery made of saltwater pearls is still considered precious due to the scarcity of the saltwater pearls and therefore not affordable for everyone. However, these days pearls (both freshwater and saltwater) are no longer that hard to find due to the emergence of cultured pearls which are now widely available in the market.

This is thanks to Kokichi Mikimoto (25 January 1858 – 21 September 1954), the son of a noodle vendor who invented the process of developing pearls by nucleating oysters. Read on for the story of how Mikimoto developed cultured pearls.

Mikimoto started his quest during 1888 by launching his first oyster farm in Japan along with his wife. After five long years of hard work, he managed to come up with the first hemispherical cultured pearl. Mikimoto started exporting the cultured pearls on 1897. The next breakthrough came to his career after a decade when he managed to invent the process of developing completely spherical pearls which were virtually identical to the top quality natural pearls. The commercial production of the new version of cultured pearls started during the 1920s.

The Japanese cultured pearl industry started to grow to global scale after World War II under the leadership of the “Pearl King” Mikimoto who launched stores in the United States, Europe and India. At one stage, his company emerged as the supreme ruler in the industry with 75% of the cultured pearls being generated by the Mikimoto Company.

Throughout his career, Mikimoto continued his campaign to prove the great quality of the cultured pearls produced by his company and successfully managed to create a positive brand image in the international arena. For his contributions and dedication to the pearl industry, Kokichi Mikimoto was awarded the prestigious Order of the Sacred Treasure.

Mikimoto is still a leading brand of top quality cultured pearls.

Whilst the technique of inserting objects into shellfish to create blister and mabe pearls was known before Mikimoto (going back to ancient times), he was the one who developed and patented a practical process for production of spherical pearls and is regarded as the pioneer in the area.

Nearly all pearls that are available are cultured (more than 99% sold are cultured) and they are widely accepted in the market. The cultured pearls are well known for their wide variety of colors, sizes and shapes and make wonderful jewellery. Natural pearls are almost unobtainable and are insignificant in the world pearl market. Although cultured pearls are seeded by man, the actual formation of the pearl takes place within the oyster or mussel. Pearls are a naturally formed product, subject to variation.

Biwa pearls are one of the most popular types of cultured pearls that are harvested in the Lake Biwa of Japan. Some of the well known varieties of saltwater cultured pearls include: Akoya pearls, South Sea pearls and Tahitian pearls.

Tags: Cultured Pearls

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 9th, 2010 at 11:09 am and is filed under Pearl information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.