Mother of Pearls
Who’s the mother of pearls? Japan. Yup. Well, the mother of cultured pearls, anyway. I’m a big nerd, and have watched 2 foreign English language documentaries this week. Both on marine life, actually. The first one was a piece about the amazing abilities and behavioral patterns of cuttlefish. That sounds really dull, but it was absolutely fascinating. The second one was a Nova bit about the history of pearl culturing practices. It turns out that Japan is the country responsible for the emergence of the knowhow and technology for modern pearl culturing. Cool, huh? I thought I’d just post a bit of what I learned.
I knew that pearls have been prized for some time, but I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I had no idea that spherical pearls are exceedingly rare in the natural world. Art depicts wealthy and powerful people decked out in pearls going back hundreds and hundreds of years. It turns out that pearls come in all kinds of odd shapes and sizes, in myriad colors, and from numerous locales as well. Apparently the Chinese were the first to figure out how to make mollusks do their bidding by creating pearled Buddhas in shells by inserting figurines into the animals. The spherical pearl commonly sought after today is actually produced though a technique introduced by a Japanese man. His success was immediately obvious to me, since I was so ignorant of naturally occurring pearls. When I think of pearls, I think of the ones which he brought about.
Mr. Kokichi Mikimoto first introduced cultured pearls to the market, and was the main force behind the world’s acceptance of the product. They figured out that by inserting a bead shaped object along with a piece of lip tissue from another oyster, that the process of encrusting could be jump started by men. This discovery (a joint effort between Japanese pearl farmers) led to the widespread pearl culturing in Japan using the Akoya oyster. The Mikimoto company, creatively named MIKIMOTO, is still world famous for pearl products, specifically in the high end of the market (the top 5% of quality pearls, supposedly). The present day company, however, only produces and harvests about half of the pearls which it handles and sells.
For a while, Japan tried to control the technique that it had originated, and sent teams of Japanese technicians overseas to start pearling ventures. Japan had come upon an incredibly valuable trade secret, so workers were sworn to secrecy. Companies like Paspaley Pearls hired them and with their help began successfully farming the huge pearls available through the local breed of oyster. The Japanese method needed to be adapted for Austalian waters, because the Japanese oysters were able to handle a lot more rough stuff. The Australian oysters that the Paspaley company sought after were not as stout. Another cool point about the Japanese export of pearl technicians is that it created mixed culture communities in a bunch of different places, like Australia, Tahiti, and other South Sea locations. Neat, huh?
Now there are all kinds of pearls available. One of the rare types that caught my attention was the Biwa pearl. Lake Biwa in Japan produced some really cool looking pearls, shaped like crosses and other completely non-spherical (and non-Buddha) shapes. They did this by introducing only the lip flesh from another mollusk, and skipping the bead part. That is cool. Unfortunately, pollution has made these pearls nearly impossible to cultivate anymore. This is true for normal pearls as well. Polluted waters and other factors are making farming harder for the modern pearl industry. Some think that’s a good thing, because rarity keeps the price up and all. On the other hand, there are scientists working on test tube cultivation techniques as well. Ha ha. Complicated market, apparently.
Speaking of the market, I’ll end by mentioning that the market for cultivated pearls is (or at least was up until now) driven primarily by American consumption. It’s interesting. The product was conceived in Japan and purchased by Americans. A classic pattern. The show credited Mr. Assael of Assael International (beware…this site contains muzak…something I do not link to luxury…full body shudder…) with the introduction of the cultivated pearl to the deep pockets in America, especially in New York City. I’m not sure if he was around at the end of the 1800s, when this whole business started, but if they say so, then it must be true. Ha ha. Anyway, it looks like the future of the pearl industry is in China, where the farms are just getting into their stride.
Nerdy? Sure, but I learned about a whole industry that I’d never given a second thought before. Hope I didn’t bore you out of your mind. Anyhoo, if you’d like to read up on it (riiiight), then you can hit the quasi-official site at NOVA Online. Yay!
