Heraldic Workshop from the Art Studio "Traditions of Times"

If you've ever seen a strand of perfect pearls, smooth and glowing from within, without a single wrinkle, then you've seen the work of Mikimoto. A jewelry brand now bears his name. Named after the man who, just over 130 years ago, figured out how to do what nature does by chance. Today, Mikimoto is a Japanese jewelry house with stores all over the world, still family-owned and considered the epitome of pearls. How it all began. 1858, Japan, in the small town of Toba. The Mikimoto family had a son. They named him Kokichi. They lived modestly, without excesses: his father ran a noodle stand, and his mother took care of the house. When the boy turned 13, his father became gravely ill. He had to leave school and take over the counter himself, this time with vegetables, which were in demand. Nothing foreshadowed this young man becoming the "king of pearls." But the sea was nearby. And every day he saw ama divers collecting pearls from the seabed. Ama means sea person, and they were usually women. Finding shells was like a lottery; only one out of a thousand would yield a pearl. Mikimoto watched this and thought, "Couldn't we somehow come to an agreement with the oystermen so they could make pearls to order?"

In 1888, he and his wife, Ume, established the world's first pearl farm in Ago Bay. For five years, nothing worked: the oysters were dying, and there was no harvest. But in July 1893, his wife found five semicircular pearls in one of the shells. It was the first cultured pearl in human history. Not a perfect sphere, only half. But the principle worked. The ideal shape was still twelve years away. Mikimoto didn't just wait; he researched. He kept records, comparing which oysters survived and which didn't. In 1896, he received the first patent for a method for cultivating semicircular pearls, but that was only the beginning. In 1898, he moved the farm to Tatokujima Island, later called Pearl Island. There, he set up experimental plots and conducted systematic research. In 1905, when a red tide (an algae bloom that becomes toxic to shellfish) destroyed 850,000 oysters, it seemed all was lost. But Mikimoto persevered, and one day he opened one of the shells and found a perfect, round pearl inside. He did it, and it worked. Incidentally, it was Kokichi Mikimoto who developed special protective oyster baskets that could be lowered or raised depending on the water temperature and plankton composition. If danger approached, the baskets were raised higher, where the toxic algae were less active. When Mikimoto pearls appeared on the European market, the reaction was immediate. In 1921, a London newspaper accused the Japanese pearl maker of fraud, calling his pearls counterfeit. A scandal erupted, culminating in a trial in Paris. Mikimoto won the case. Experts confirmed that the pearls were genuine, simply man-made. After that, the world acknowledged that, yes, such a thing was possible.

In 1927, Kokichi Mikimoto traveled to the United States, where he met Thomas Edison, an inventor and engineer credited with developing a commercially successful version of the incandescent light bulb. Edison looked at the pearl and said something that is still quoted on the Mikimoto company website: "This is not a cultured pearl, this is a real pearl. The two things my laboratory has failed to create are diamonds and pearls. What you have created is one of the wonders of the world." In 1899, Mikimoto opened his first store in Tokyo, in the Ginza district. It was a bold move; at the time, the Japanese did not buy jewelry in stores. But he believed he could convince people. In 1913, a store opened in London. Then, all over the world. Mikimoto was a marketing genius. When the market was flooded with cheap pearls and prices dropped, he gathered journalists and burned 135 kilograms of low-quality pearls right in front of them. The message was simple: not a single defective pearl will be sold under my name. At exhibitions, he pulled off such stunts that every newspaper wrote about him. In 1926, at an exhibition in Philadelphia, he exhibited a replica of the Liberty Bell, completely covered in pearls. The Americans were delighted.

At the Mikimoto jewelry house, one of the main symbols is the pearl itself. But to say that Mikimoto has no other symbols other than the pearl itself would not be entirely accurate. In the collections of the jewelry brand, the letter M is the first in the name; it becomes an independent design element, like a monogram. In the M Collection line, it is woven into rings and pendants, forming a geometric frame for pearls and diamonds. And in 2017, designer Kenya Hara updated the brand symbol, crowning the strict “M” monogram with a perfect circle, the very pearl for which everything was started. Minimalism, in which the name and symbol exist as a single whole. There are also specific artifacts in the long history of the jewelry house. In 1937, at the World's Fair in Paris, Mikimoto showed a piece that is still considered a jewelry miracle. The Yaguruma clasp is a small brooch that has been transformed into twelve different pieces of jewelry: a ring, a pin, a pendant, and so on. It was an engineering puzzle of the highest order. After the exhibition, “Yaguruma” disappeared for half a century and surfaced only in 1989 at a Sotheby’s auction. The Mikimoto family bought it back and it is now kept in the collection. Another symbol of the jewelry brand, the Phoenix crown. Since 2002, Mikimoto has been creating crowns for Miss Universe winners. 800 diamonds, pearls and the silhouette of a bird rising from the ashes. Every year, another beauty queen takes a new crown to her country..

Mikimoto is still family-owned. Yes, the fourth generation is continuing the legacy started by their great-grandfather. The company is a family business that has weathered difficult times and economic crises, and still maintains its reputation. Today, Mikimoto has stores all over the world, in Tokyo, New York, Paris, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bangkok. In Singapore, for example, a new boutique opened in January 2026 in Takashimaya Shopping Centre; it's larger than the original store in Marina Bay. Thai actress Freen Sarocha and Chinese actor Song Weilong attended the opening. The brand remains relevant and attracts a young audience. They currently have several product lines. In addition to classic pearl jewelry, we also offer:
- Diamond and colored stone jewelry (we source only the best).
- In-house perfumes and cosmetics (in 2026, a Mikimoto cosmetics store opened in GINZA SIX).
- A collaboration with Lalique in 2025 resulted in the release of the Fortune Leaves Crystal Edition fragrance in a crystal bottle, limited to 10 pieces.
- The Passionoir line with black pearls for a modern audience.

Mikimoto lived until 1954, to the age of 96. He lived to see his pearls recognized worldwide and his company go international. A bronze statue of him stands on the island where it all began. Kokichi looks out toward the ocean, where baskets of oysters were hauled up for decades. Today, Mikimoto is a system where quality determines everything. The fourth generation of the family is still in business, and pearls still grow on Pearl Island. The company produces fragrances, collaborates with brands, opens boutiques around the world, and yet remains what it was from the very beginning—a story about how perseverance and patience can convince even the sea.

Photo from instagram official_mikimoto resources, mikimoto company website. com, tattlerasia. com