Collection: Mikimoto

Mikimoto is a Japanese jewelry house founded in 1893 by Kokichi Mikimoto, credited as the creator of the world's first cultured pearl. Driven by his lifelong dream to "adorn the necks of all women around the world with pearls," Mikimoto built a company that transformed pearls from a scarce natural luxury into a globally accessible art form, opening his first boutique in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1899 before expanding to London, Paris, and New York in the early 20th century. Today, Mikimoto remains synonymous with the finest cultured Akoya, South Sea, and Tahitian pearls, blending traditional Japanese craftsmanship with fine jewelry design. King Jewelers is proud to carry Mikimoto for customers seeking the pearls that set the global standard.

Mikimoto's story begins with Kokichi Mikimoto, born in 1858 in the Japanese port town of Toba, the son of a noodle-shop owner. Concerned that overharvesting was depleting Japan's natural pearl-producing oysters, Mikimoto set out to find a way to cultivate pearls himself, experimenting for years — alongside his wife and research partner, Ume — despite repeated failures and near bankruptcy. On July 11, 1893, he successfully created the world's first cultured pearl, a breakthrough that would define the rest of his life. He opened his first pearl boutique in Tokyo's Ginza district in 1899, patented his process in 1896, and by 1905 had achieved a fully spherical cultured pearl indistinguishable from the finest natural ones. As demand grew internationally, Mikimoto opened boutiques in London in 1913, followed by Paris and New York. His cultured pearls faced skepticism and even legal challenges over their authenticity, culminating in a landmark 1921 French court case — later known as the "Paris Trial" — which Mikimoto won, cementing global recognition for cultured pearls as genuine. In 1927, he met inventor Thomas Edison, who reportedly told him that creating pearls was "one of the wonders of the world," comparing it to the impossibility of manufacturing diamonds. Kokichi Mikimoto died in 1954 at age 96, having fulfilled his stated dream of making pearls accessible to women around the world — a legacy that continues through Mikimoto's pearl farms and jewelry ateliers in Japan today.