WPF - The World Pearl Forum 2009

[jshepherd]

The forum was quite an experience. After 27 hours of travel (due to a very long l/o in London) I arrived in Dubai early in the morning.

Day 1

After a very short nap, the speakers and a few VIP were invited on a private tour of the DMCC Pearl Museum. The museum is not open to the public, so this was a real treat. We were invited to view what is likely the world's largest collection of natural pearls.

The main collection.



A close up of one basket.



Some amazing pieces:



Another close up with a blister pearl.



A very old pearl drill.

 

[jshepherd]

After the tour we gathered for a group photo. I am standing back row behind and to the left of Jacques Branellec, managing director of Jewelmer.

 

[jshepherd]

Day 2

This was the start of the real forum.

The first speech was delivered by Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the executive chairman of the DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodoties Centre). It was a sort of welcome address. He told us that the DMCC has been working to revive Dubai's pearling heritage since 2002.



The second speaker was Gaiti Rabbani, executive director, Coloured Stones and Pearls for the DMCC. She spoke of the current financial crisis and mentioned that bling was dead - the perfect opportunity for the subtle beauty of pearls.



Gaiti was followed by Nicholas Paspaley. Paspaley's topic was Branding a Modern Classic - The South Sea Pearl, but he primarily focused on the history of natural pearls in the UAE and his family's history in the cultured and natural pearl industry for the first 23 minutes.

He did post a question he received often, along with his answer.

Why is my company dominate in the South Sea Pearl Industry?

Although he mentioned many conspiracy theories abound, these are his answers to the question.

1. Paspaley is the only company that started collecting natural pearls before going into farming.
2. Paspaley is the only pearl farmer that continues to collect naturals.
3. Paspaley's first partners were Japanese from the Mitsubishi company, and he is still partnerned with them today.
4. Pearls are easy to produce, but fine pearls are very difficult to produce.



Paspaley was followed by the Inspiring Robert Wan of Rober Wan Tahiti. Mr. Wan told the story of his company's history, along with a very interesting account of his purchase of Marutea Sud. He said he purchased it immediately after a cyclone had decimated the atoll. The cyclone, however, was of great benefit as it "stirred" the waters of the lagoon, benefitting pearl production.

Wan also discussed the many crises that have affected the industry, including the earthquake in Kobe that created a drop in demand while production was high, leading to a drop in prices.



Following Wan, Noriyuki Morita took the stage. Morita is president of K. Mikimoto & Co., Ltd.

Mr. Morita started off in French, switching to Japanese after a few minutes, bouncing back and forth to bits of English. He primarily focused on Mikimoto's brands and jewelry lines, as well as the history of the company.

Mr. Morita was likely the most nervous of all speakers. While speaking French he appeared on the verge of fainting, but became a bit more comfortable after switching to Japanese. Even so, he spoke incredibly fast in Japanese. I think his nerves had gotten the better of him.

 

[jshepherd]

Jacques Branellec of Jewelmer was the next to take the stage. He began with telling us that he had decided to throw out his speech and speak from the heart. That is one brave guy! We heard the story of his life and his company, but the one thing that stood out to me the most was his thoughts on the economic crisis. He asked, "what crisis?!" As a pearl farmer crises are part of daily operation.

Mr. Branellec was definitely the funniest of the speakers. The crowd laughed several times during his speech.



The next section, titled Reality of Today's Market, began with a speech by McKinsey & Company managing partner Chris Figee. In a short 30 minutes, Figee explained the economic crisis in layman terms. I really enjoyed this one because it explained so many things we can feel and see, but don't completely understand.



Figee's speech was followed with the first panel discussion on the economic outlook for the pearl sector. The panelists were Chris Figee, Nicholas Paspaley, Robert Wan and Jacques Branellec, moderated by Julia Wheeler, the emcee of the forum.



The panel discussion lead into the session On the Radar.

Justin Hunter was the first to speak. Justin is the founder of J. Hunter Pearls in Fiji. I had the opportunity to get to know Justin quite well over three days. In fact, we were out until nearly three in the morning after the evening's cocktail/dinner reception.

Justin focused less on the history of his company, and more on the unique attributes of his pearls and pearling operations. He showed us pictures of the indigenous orange-mantle Pinctada margaritifera that is commonly found in Fiji, but very rare in French Polynesia. He discussed his use of Japanese technicians, which allow him to implant first-graft shell with larger (2.6 bu) beads, allowing for a larger size pearl, 11.5 mm on average. His operation is still relatively small with only 100,000 shell in the water this year, but plans for up to 150,000 next year.

Justin has brought a lot of technology to the P. marg farming operation, including the introduction of hatchery shell. This is uncommon in P. marg production, as most production is grown from spat. He has also kept his auctions small and private. I believe he only allows 15 buyers.



Following Justin, Weijian Zhan, chairman of Grace Pearl in China, took the stage. Mr. Zhan does not speak English, but out of respect wanted to deliver the speech himself. He talked in detail of the growth of the Chinese freshwater pearl industry and advancements the Chinese are making in size and quality.

Unfortunately I did not get a photo of Mr. Zhan on stage. At this point my nerves were starting to react as I was only two speakers away from taking the stage. The photo below is taken from the World Pearl Forum Web site.

 

[jshepherd]

The fifth section of the day was on Trends and Challenges.

The famous Bill Reed was the first to speak. He is quite a character and had the crowd laughing several times as he recounted his experience with pearl farming. I have to admit not being completely focused on Bill's speech as I was the next to take the stage.



My speech was all about the Internet. I spoke of trends and growth patterns, as well as the economic impacts of the recession. I am not usually a nervous speaker, but I felt nervous on that stage.

Near the end of my speech I began talking about Pearl-Guide and social marketing, the costs of delivering a message through traditional media compared to easy and affordability of the Internet.

(sorry about the photo - I did not shoot this one myself for obvious reasons)



I was followed by Jorg Gellner of Gellner in Germany. His topic was on Family Business, but he turned it into a lesson in branding. He described one line his company recently introduced - plastic rings with Tahitian and South Sea pearls, and told us that they sold about €1 million in the first year. One would not expect plastic rings to be aesthetically pleasing, but Gellner has really pulled it off. The rings were beautiful.



Dr. Tiajin Lu, the chief researcher of China National Gemstone Testing Center kicked off the next session with a talk about differentiating qualities of Chinese cultured freshwater pearls.

Mr. Lu's speech was intriguing and he introduced a grading system for freshwater pearls I had never seen. After his speech I spent some time speaking with him, and he gave me one of his grading charts. I've not decided whether or not to adapt it to our own, but I plan to do some research to see how our system ties in with theirs.

An interesting addition to his speech was his announcement of a non-invasive device which can be used to determine the nacre thickness of pearls. It is called the OTC device, and I am considering purchasing one. Because a single unit is $40,000 US, I plan to see it in action on my next trip to China before committing to a purchase.

 

[jshepherd]

Kenneth Scarrat of GIA Thailand was the last speaker of the day. Mr. Scarrat discussed GIA's new pearl grading report and went over the different attributes that the report covers. This lead into a panel discussion of Pearl Standards.



I was not on the list of invited panelists for this part of the conference but was asked shortly before the panel began if I would be willing to take part. I obliged, of course.

The panelists, from left to right, were Julia Wheeler (the moderator), Dr. Taijin Lu, Jorg Gellner, myself, Kenneth Scarrat and Nicholas Paspaley.

Julia started with a few questions about standards and our thoughts of their importance to the industry. This was followed by audience questions.

Peter Bazar of Imperial and CPAA asked the first question. He wanted our thoughts on how standardization could affect the industry, and whether it would be a type of commoditization of pearls, leading to a Blue Nile situation. I felt this question was directed primarily toward me so I answered. I stated that standardization would certainly give companies like mine an even greater edge in the market, but given the vast varieties of pearls available, combined with so many different attributes, it would be nearly impossible to commoditize pearls.

Nicholas Paspaley agreed and said that if you have 100 perfect diamonds, they are all going to be the same. But if you have 100 gem quality pearls, every one of them is going to be different.

The panel was short, only about a half hour. The discussion leaned away from a standard grading for the industry, and towards the need for a common language.



This ended the first day of the conference. Shortly after, we left for the Pearls and Denim cocktail and dinner party at some extravagant hotel. The party lasted several hours and there was a lot of dancing and networking. I know there are going to be a few interesting pictures floating around from that party. One of them is a picture of me wearing a multi-strand rope of some of the finest golden South Sea pearls you've ever seen (Jewelmer, of course).

The evening did not end here. Justin Hunter, his wife, Roger Beattie, Peter Bazar and his wife and I met at the Atlantis bar for one drink that lasted until nearly three in the morning.

 

[jshepherd]

Day 3

Unfortunately that is about it for the photographs. I made the mistake of forgetting my camera. I am sure it had something to do with the night before.

Sonny Sethi of CPAA was the first speaker. He spoke of demand for pearls in the United States. He was to be followed by Rosario Autore, but Autore was a no-show.

Hedda Schupak of JCK spoke of pearl promotion and how it relates to other gems, and was followed by Mark Rogers of Mojo - a brand strategy company.

Mark (I am going to refer to him by his first name because 'Mr. Rogers' still makes me laugh) walked us through the development of a branding strategy. His company had put together a plan for a possible campaign branding pearls as a form a femininity. I'm not sure it was the best possible direction to go, but the process was very interesting.

Mark's speech was followed by another panel that turned into a lively discussion. The panel was on Positioning Pearls as the Desirable Gem, and there were many audience questions. The direction of the discussion turned toward the creation of a single organization to direct the industry. One audience member challenged the panelists on whether they were willing to set aside a portion of their product/revenue to promote pearls worldwide. The discussion was interesting, but whether anything like this is plausible or not remains to be seen. Pearl production is such a fragmented industry, it is difficult for a single international governing body to develop.

After the panel Dr. Jack Ogden of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain talked about his groups history and its connection to GIA, as well as the history of pearls. This was followed by David Bennet of Sotheby's who took us on a pictorial journey of many of the fine natural pearls he has had the honor of auctioning.

Ali Mohammed Saraf of Precious Metals and Gemstone Testing of Bahrain then discussed natural Arabian pearls, and he was followed by Californian KC Bell who gave us a good speech on natural abalone pearls.

The final session was about the many opportunities available to pearl traders and producers in the local region. This was followed with a tour of the DMCC's Pearl Exchange offices where we were given more information about trading pearls in Dubai.

That was the end of the World Pearl Forum, 2009.

One last picture, and one for my wall...me with Robert Wan.

 

[Caitlin]

A great report, Jeremy. You really did some networking and being included on that last panel was wonderful to see. I am so glad you partied with such interesting people. That experience was rich. Did you see Datu Tom Stern?

I love your Tahitian, but did you wear your abalone pearl at all?

 

[jshepherd]

Yes. I spent some time with Tom. But I wasn't able to make it to the tender before the forum, so I didn't see his natural collection.

 

[maryd]

Jeremy, Thank you for sharing. I am just beginning my education on pearls and the industry and this makes me even more interested. I work in Global business and I would have loved to have been there just to listen to these speakers talking about shaping a market.
Mary

 

[GemGeek]

Excellent report Jeremy! Thanks a bunch.

 

[Sueki]

Great report, Jeremy.
Thank you !

 

[pbazar]

Dubai

Dubai

here is a link to 200 pictures

http://picasaweb.google.com/peterbazar/Dubai?feat=directlink

 

[pattye]

Thanks for the photos, Peter! Will you be adding captions? Love the photos of Jeremy, with the ropes of SS goldens framing his abalone necklace!

 

[pbazar]

if I have time

 

[GemGeek]

Peter, thanks for posting so many photographs. We can get a feel for what it was like to attend and it's fun to see people I know.

 

[Pearly Shell]

Great report Jeremy!! Thanks for sharing your trip!

 

[dkan 168]

Thanks Jeremy and Peter for sharing your trip

DK

 

[Mikeyy]

Yes, Thanks. I feel like I was there. Without the jet lag and expense. Good reporting and pics. I still don't know what comes out of it as a conference but I am sure it was interesting. I do recognize Peter. Funny I've never met him but I recognize him from wondering around the HK shows the last few years. What can I say Peter. You sort of stand out. Good job gents.

 

[SpaceNeedle]

Below is one of the photos from Mr. Bazar. Can someone please give me the story behind this monstrous
Freshwater strand?