Mikimoto

Mikimoto is a famous Japanese brand belonging to the jewelry house of the same name.

It all started with oysters

Kokichi Mikimoto, the owner of the oyster farm, was long coming up with the idea of pearl cultivation. In 1893, one of his attempts was successful and he found a small semicircular pearl in an oyster shell. From that moment on he began actively researching the cultivation of pearls under artificial conditions, which ended in 1896 with a patent.

In 1907 the company started to produce mother-of-pearl raw materials on a serial scale.

The cultured pearls became extremely popular as they were much less expensive than the natural ones and the quality, chemical composition and appearance were absolutely identical. The only difference is that in nature, a grain of sand just happens to get inside the shell, where the oyster coats the shell with nacreous slime layer by layer, while in industrial production the sand is grafted there in a special way.

All these factors helped Mikimoto to occupy the leading position on the pearl raw material market. Mining natural pearls became extremely unprofitable, as they could not stand the price competition, while pearl jewelry became more affordable.

From one farm to the biggest pearl producer

Today Mikimoto is the largest producer of pearl jewelry. Mikimoto farm is located in Japan on the island of Shima. It also has the largest brand boutiques and exhibition halls.

Mikimoto products are represented in stores almost all over the world and are in great demand. These are products with high quality natural pearls: classic white and exclusive black, pink and golden. Pearls undergo careful selection and sorting, and only 3-5% of the manufactured raw materials, 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 inlaying pearls with diamonds. The diamond shine in mother-of-pearl was surprisingly harmonious and impressive. Later this technique was used in other collections – Sakura and Neo Vintage.

The Pearls in Motion line is famous for the fact that its jewelry is transformable due to 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 them.

Official website https://www.mikimoto.com/

Date of fundation 1893