Freshwater pearls and mother-of-pearl today

Symbolising elegance and eternity, pearls are seen not just on wedding days or special occasions: freshwater pearls and mother-of-pearl have been gaining popularity in the fashion jewellery world, where people have started mixing high-end fashion with street chic.

Innovations and market preference

The eight-year-old, Hong Kong-based Heng Bo Pearl Group Limited has its farm and factory located in Guangdong, specialising in manufacturing and processing. Its monthly production of 20 tons is exported to countries worldwide. Sze Sum, director of Heng Bo, mentioned that the freshwater pearl industry has seen major development over the decade. "Different freshwater pearl sizes and categories have been well developed: just 8mm to 9mm used to be the maximum sizes, but nowadays they can grow up to 13mm, 14mm or even 15mm. Category-wise, new pearls such as nuclear pearls and irregular pearls are also arising in the industry," Mr Sze explained. With more types of pearls coming in, that allows greater possibilities for pearl-themed fashion jewellery.

Heng Bo

Jumbo Eternal

Another Hong Kong-based company, Jumbo Eternal Pearl Limited, has been established since 1994, with its factory in Zhejiang handling bleaching, drilling and stringing. President, Raymond Choi, also revealed, "Apart from higher quality, the sizes of the freshwater pearls have increased tremendously as well over the years, from a mere 6mm to 7mm to 12mm or more." But customers' preferences seem to remain unchanged: despite the fact that the company can tailor-dye any colour of pearls for customers, and offers a wider choice of shapes, such as round, drop, button, baroque, rice, coin, keshi and biwa, round white pearls still dominate the market, as Mr Choi reminded us. The company's products are exported to the United States, Europe and South East Asian countries.

A similar preference is noted regarding mother-of-pearl. Putu Darmaya, director of Bali-based Caspla Bali, agreed that pure white mother-of-pearl is very well-received regardless of the times and the trends. The company specialises in producing shell items and wholesaling all kinds of pearls, with its mother-of-pearl products usually exported to Korea, Hong Kong, Italy and Dubai.

Caspla Bali

Upcoming trends

Heng Bo

For Heng Bo Pearl, customer preferences vary a good deal: some are fonder of the pure white pearls, while recently some are seeking variation to mix and match in their own styles. For example, natural purple round pearls are becoming popular. As for upcoming colour trends, it is believed pistachio, teal and natural pink will come into style. Mr Sze welcomes the trend of seeing more freshwater pearls being adopted for high-end fashion jewellery and accessories.

On the other hand, Mr Darmaya foresees white, black, grey and pink becoming the hottest hues for mother-of-pearl products. He believes silver and leather go very well with mother-of-pearl for fashion jewellery. And product-wise the trend may extend from the current fashion jewellery and accessories to furniture, tiles and jewellery art carving.

"White coloured and larger pearls are the all-time favourites with our customers. Trends do not really matter to us; the most well-received types and colours of pearls among customers vary, depending on the season and people's complexions," related Mr Choi.

Industry prospects

The global financial crisis sent the freshwater pearl industry into meltdown, and its impact still lingers. Heng Bo saw its business shrink by 30% to 40%. Given this unfavourable scenario, Mr Sze is focusing on producing medium-to-high-quality pearls and has launched the fashion jewellery brand "Farah," hoping to broaden the company's existing market share. "We expect to see an increase in sales of 20% in the year 2010/11," he said.

Heng Bo

Jumbo Eternal

Despite the serious crash in the jewellery market, with freshwater pearls becoming more popular in the fashion jewellery industry, Mr Choi retains high hopes for its prospects. "Pearls, elegant and trendy, are suitable for all ages and nationalities for any occasion. Without doubt, the pearl industry will continue to thrive."

Source: Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Review