Hong Kong anyone?

Josh you have many many many fans! You're creating a pretty strong brand...even as a newbie I recognize this and have quickly come to see how striking and differentiated your pearls are. I just wish there were more avenues where I can oogle and purchase your pearls. :)

Edit: Good thing for pearlescence! I just bought a pair of your amazing studs from Wendy! :)
 
The show was definitely quiet. The amount of quality FW pearls was certainly down this year while the quantity of low-quality FW pearls was enormous. I remember Grace Pearl talked a lot about bead-nucleated, round, FW pearls in Dubai. I stopped by and asked to see them, but they did not have any at the show. They are being a bit hush-hush about it, but they did say they were going to compete with the South Sea market. (Actually, I believe they said something along the lines of killing the South Sea market.) We'll have to see what happens.

According to some suppliers, most FW pearl farmers lost money this year and will be going out of business in droves.

I did see prices on Tahitian pearls that are completely unsustainable, even on gem-quality Tahitian pearls.
 
The Pearl Outlet said:
I remember Grace Pearl talked a lot about bead-nucleated, round, FW pearls in Dubai. I stopped by and asked to see them, but they did not have any at the show. They are being a bit hush-hush about it, but they did say they were going to compete with the South Sea market. (Actually, I believe they said something along the lines of killing the South Sea market.) We'll have to see what happens.
Click to expand...

I guess the secret is not that big a secret
 
If the proverbial cat needs to be put back in the proverbial bag, let me know and I'll edit my post.
 
too late - we've been thinking for a while that is what their plans are...
 
jiazzi said:
Josh you have many many many fans... I just wish there were more avenues where I can oogle and purchase your pearls.
Click to expand...

So does this blogger. :)

If we were actually in a room together I'd try to get a table pounding chant of "WEB-SITE! WEB-SITE" going. Kamoka's site is beautiful, but lot, pair and singleton pearl photos taken with Josh's skill, plus an "inquire via email" link or a PayPal button would make it that much better. I know suppliers try to avoid sales that might undercut their retailers, but these are strange times. At least half of said pearls would have names by the end of the week. :p

I'd also love to see more Kamoka video clips, but that's more along the strong brand affection/loyalty lines jiazzi mentioned. :D
 
Nerida said:
too late - we've been thinking for a while that is what their plans are...
Click to expand...

It's not much of a bag-cat, is it? CFWPs compete with akoyas, but they need to be bigger and more regular to catch the eye of people looking at SSP.

Is part of the nucleation project getting freshwaters to be whiter out of the shell? Nucleated FWPs could take on SSP in size, but I've never seen FWs with that luminous white satin look. Is creating a market for big FWs comprised of people who can't afford/justify a round SSP strand technically "competing"?
 
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laurenb said:
Nucleated FWPs could take on SSP in size, but I've never seen FWs with that luminous white satin look. Is creating a market for big FWs comprised of people who can't afford/justify a round SSP strand technically "competing"?
Click to expand...

I respectfully disagree. SS pearls tend to have a waxier duller finish than the most lustrous Akoya pearls and the FWP below are something to be aware of I would not dismiss this developing challenge to SS out of hand

DSC_0358.JPG
 
Such a stunning necklace Peter. Are they all natural colour? about 15mm?
Will that really soon be reasonably available?
 
I'm with Peter on this one. We've already seen FW pearls take a large segment of Akoya sales. South Sea are the obvious next target.

Remember this photo of a SS and FW I posted a few months back?

SSFW-lg.jpg
 
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Thank for the news

Thank for the news

Hello Josh...

I was supposed to visit this Hong Kong Show... but the crisis is so present now in Tahiti.
My uncle (a pearl farmer) has now stopped his production... off course, he is not so big as you ( less than 60 000 oysters) but the market is now so bad.
Last month, he made a small harvest of 4000 pearls ... and some brokers in Papeete (Tahiti) offer him less than 300 cfp/pearl (something like 3.3 usd) ... this is terrible.
My uncle (like a big part of the small farmers) has decided to change his job... cutting coconut to make COPRAH (dried nut of coconut) and fishing ... to survive.
Anyway, how was the price in Hong Kong? Do I have to push my uncle to go and sell in Hong Kong? Any idea...
In my point of view, the profession is dead ... Farmers will stop one by one ... I have also some relative in the Bank of Socredo (supposed to be the super bank of the farmers) ... all the debts cumulated of the differents farmers is estimated to be around 30 millions USD ...
So bad.

thank you.
 
I am afraid that if China does take over the pearl industry it will lose its luster. The romance of pearls is as important to me as the pearl itself. If we can pop them out of a machine so to speak then what is the difference between a pearl and a bead?
Pearling is about exotic locals and risking the dangers of the deep blue sea. In short I'm not sure if I like it.

Another not very well thought out, shoot from the hip gut reaction brought to you by myself. :D
 
Mikeyy said:
Another not very well thought out, shoot from the hip gut reaction brought to you by myself. :D
Click to expand...

Pat yourself on the back for being honest! :D

DK ;)
 
Peter - I think that strand you are holding in the photo (Grace?) is the same one I saw in HK last year and I posted a quick pic on the HK thread at the time.

Lauren, I wish I had them here - I have just knotted a 51" strand of not fireball, but not round either, nucleated white FW... they are satiny and very lustrous.. I have another strand that I wore at the HK show last year and even some SS traders thought they were SS..
 
Oh, and Mikeyy... I can see your point entirely, I just haven't spent enough time on the farms to agree. Maybe it's just that you like travelling to exotic places and meeting the exotic locals?
 
Nerida said:
Oh, and Mikeyy... I can see your point entirely, I just haven't spent enough time on the farms to agree. Maybe it's just that you like travelling to exotic places and meeting the exotic locals?
Click to expand...
Locales locals. hmm. I'll get this language eventually.





or maybe not
 
This looks like the unfinished strand (short of 3-4 pearls) that I had seen at Grace's premises early last year. Wish I had taken a pic. It's breathtaking, and really lustrous....the pearls are quite round and huge. Thanks for the picture, Peter. I do agree that FWP will give SSPs a good run for their money very soon.

Mikeyy - I can understand where you are coming from, but unfortunately the pearl market is not just about the romantic stories behind the pearls at the moment, but more about value for money....if you get similarly gorgeous FWs pearls at a fraction of the price of SSPs, what would an average buyer go for in these times....?:/
 
Marama,

It is very sad to hear what is going on in Tahiti with people leaving the pearl profession and moving on to something else. I don't think your uncle would get better prices in Hong Kong, people there are pretty good at getting things at cut throat rates.

Best of luck
Marc
 
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