Mikimoto (company)

Every cultured pearl necklace in a jeweler's window owes something to Mikimoto. Kokichi Mikimoto produced his first hemispherical cultured pearls on July 11, 1893, after years of failed attempts, and opened his first shop in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1899. That makes Mikimoto the rare house whose signature is a material rather than a motif. The style is clean and classic, with the pearl itself as the point: a strand of evenly matched, lustrous pearls is the piece to know it by. It is the natural first stop for anyone buying pearls who wants a name with real history behind it rather than a fashion label.