Fiji J Hunter pearls Savusavu

[Tucs]

Justin do you have a online store?

Newberry, here's the link to their website, with online store:

http://www.fijipearls.com

Justin, may I say, the website is beautiful, but a little cumbersome to navigate if you're looking for something in particular.

 

[CathyKeshi]

This is all just so wonderful Justin ... SO delighted you came to the forum to share your pearls and story with us ... what a treasure; we are incredibly blessed ... Thank You!

 

[JerseyPearl]

The colors of the pearls are amazing...and so unique! I love multi color pearls, but do understand the desire for single color strands...my guess though is that some colors will be vastly more popular than others. Personally I love the blues, browns and bronze colors.

 

[lisa c]

It's wonderful to have you posting! Thank you for sharing your past thoughts and decision making. It's ALL very intriguing.

When I see your pearls I think soft, subtle, whispers, elegant, rich and seductive. I didn't see the 'earthy' until I enlarged the photos, so I guess that's a quality that comes across more in close-up conditions.

 

[BWeaves]

Wow! I've just gone through all the latest posts, and I've been drooling over these pearls. Amazing. Wish I could see them in person.

 

[BlackPearlDudeDC]

Its time to leave the darks, greys, and blacks. Sinking ship right now.
That will be a longer post this will be quick.

This makes me sad , "There is nothing quite like the idea of a black pearl", says Blackpearldude

This strand we have in our safe. But it is not even finished it is actually the start of a very long process. These large pearls and their brothers and sisters will not go into multicolour strands anymore (if we can take the time and loss of $'s).
We are going to embark on a new journey - multi's seem to have a "ceiling" we are slowly and painstakingly going to start putting together single tone strands of some of our unique Fiji colours.
This will take a while - but at least we have a good number of "bigs" in the safe. So we will be building them backwards. Not sure how long it will take to get our first one completed but it will be something.

I can't imagine how long it would take to assemble full strands of each of these colors, but what an extraordinary endeavor. One I hope to get to see. I am truly impressed with these pearls!

 

[Justin Hunter]

Hi everyone, hectic couple months here in Fiji.
Caught up with some of the pearl forum people in HK.
I thought this Hong Kong show was a little better from the farmers perspective, with higher prices.

We are busy down here. I thought i would post a few shots on what we have been doing.
Hatchery run - these are our babies at about 1 week old. They buzz around under the microscope. We are experiencing cooler water temps then normal and this is resulting in larvae taking longer to grow and get out of the hatchery.

Growing larvae is all about the food - we grow several species of algae to feed the young larvae as they grow. Here is a picture of our algal lab where we grow the algae.


Here are some slightly older shells being moved and graded - lots and lots of work to make Fiji pearls. We actually start with mixing eggs and sperm of the selected adults.


Here a picture of our newly implanted shells being handled and put into our hanging nets. We really look after our shells as they cost us lots of $'s and we just don't have that many.


By the way we are harvesting so i guess I should show the result of all this work. Harvest is looking pretty good. Each line and place where the pearls are coming from produces pearls slightly different - we have around 28,000 shells to harvest. Unfortunately not all will have a "saleable pearl" - here are some pics of pearls that i picked out of the harvesting bowl this morning. All natural - not even washed up yet. Love these colours.


Will post more shots of pearls coming in each day. Enjoy.

 

[Marianne]

Thanks for posting, Justin. Wishing you a successful harvest!

 

[Oh Them Gems]

Interesting! And yes, beautiful colours! Thank you.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Wow, thank you Justin for posting these fantastic photos! It is fascinating to see the stages of the production in this manner. Please do keep the photos and explanations coming...I very much appreciate the insight into pearling! And your end product is gorgeous.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Very interesting! Thank you for the great photos.

 

[Jacques]

It's wonderful to see these photos from your production Justin. Please keep them
coming, everyone here really appreciates it!

 

[dblkprl]

It's wonderful to see these photos from your production Justin. Please keep them
coming, everyone here really appreciates it!

I have to echo Jac...I love to see the process...it appeals to the science geek in me.

A question. Justin you referred to "IFMER" in a previous post. What is that as google was not too helpful. Thanks

 

[Justin Hunter]

I have to echo Jac...I love to see the process...it appeals to the science geek in me.

A question. Justin you referred to "IFMER" in a previous post. What is that as google was not too helpful. Thanks

Sorry should be IFREMER - French Institute for oceanic research / exploitation.
Very well respected.

Will get more pics of pearls being harvested and graded. Hope you are all well.

JH

 

[Chroman]

This is awsome to get a behind the scenes look - and what wonderful colors! Best wishes for you harvest!

The algae lab somewhat reminds me of my kitchen when I had more time for homebrewing.

 

[Justin Hunter]

I know people love these. Fresh from the farm - Fiji Keshi's.


Yes - the backdrop is nice too.
Thanks for being such gracious hosts.

 

[GemGeek]

Fiji keshi -- swoon!

 

[JerseyPearl]

Very pretty little keshis! What will you do with them?

 

[Jacques]

I bet he's going to sell them at auction!

 

[CathyKeshi]

What a wonderful treat these posts are ... Thanks ever so much, Justin ... and now my favorite keshis!!!