The idea of the possibility of pearl cultivation has long been ripening in the head of Kokichi Mikimoto, the owner of an oyster farm, who experimented a lot in this direction. In 1893, one of his attempts was crowned with success, and in the shell of an oyster, he found a small semicircular pearl. From that moment, active research work on the cultivation of pearls in artificial conditions began, which in 1896 ended with the receipt of a patent.
In 1907, the company began to produce mother-of-pearl raw materials on a serial scale.
Cultured pearls have gained frenzied popularity, since their price turned out to be several times less than natural ones, and the quality, chemical composition and appearance are absolutely identical. The only difference is that in nature, a grain of sand accidentally gets inside the shell, where the oyster layer by layer covers it with mother-of-pearl mucus, and during industrial production the grain of sand is added there in a special way.
All this allowed Mikimoto to take a leading position in the pearl raw materials market. The extraction of natural pearls became extremely unprofitable, as they could not withstand price competition, and the pearl products themselves became more affordable.
From one farm to the largest pearl producer
Today Mikimoto is the largest manufacturer of pearl jewelry. The Mikimoto farm is located in Japan on Shima Island, where the largest brand boutiques and exhibition halls are located.
Mikimoto products are presented in stores in almost all countries of the world and are in great demand.
These are products with high quality natural pearls: classic white and exclusive black, pink and gold. Pearls are carefully selected and sorted, only 3-5% of the raw materials produced, the highest quality and most expensive pearls are used to create branded jewelry.
Each Mikimoto collection is unique in its own way.
The Milano jewelry line was the first to use the patented technology of inlaid pearls with diamonds. The brilliant shine in mother-of-pearl turned out to be surprisingly harmonious and impressive. Subsequently, this technique was used in other collections Sakura and Neo Vintage.
The Pearls in Motion line is famous for the fact that its jewelry can be transformed by the movable attachment of each pearl.
In addition to jewelry, the Mikimoto brand produces natural cosmetics with pearl oyster protein extract (conchiolin), which has a beneficial effect on skin cells, rejuvenating and moisturizing it.
