This is the Way the World Ends...

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang, but a whimper.

Reading Perlemeister’s blurb on the death of Golay, it’s the same old story that surfaces in any industry, anywhere. Golay moved away from hiring and keeping eminently capable employees who knew the pearl trade inside and out to taking on Armani-clad “suits” who knew nothing about the core business other than sitting on their keesters in air-conditioned comfort before glowing computers, collecting data under the guise of being marketing geniuses destined to lead their company onward and upward.

People who had done business successfully for many years soon started to leave the sinking ship, and in a short time all the company had left were what are called “veranda pearlers” in the business: folks who had no earthly concept about the pearl business, who had never dirtied their hands in learning it from the ground up, who weren’t experienced buyers and sellers of anything except how to buff themselves and their flashy résumés so as impress one another while crawling up to increasingly undeserved executive-level heights (and perks).

As sales plummeted, these hotshots knew more and more about less and less until they knew everything about nothing consequential, leaving a cadre of totally incapable idiots at the top who brought the hundred year old company down in just a few years. Which just goes to prove that the pearl business is not done in suits, ties and glistening loafers by coiffed dudes sitting in front of a keyboard, but by those who toil in the trenches and know first-hand the grunt work it takes to become a success in pearling... and to maintain that success.

You name the industry, and I’ll spin you the same cautionary tale.

Many years ago a very dear pal of mine took over the reins of his father’s long-established printing firm, a company at the very top of the heap in a very competitive business in town. He had printer’s ink in his veins, and knew the printing business inside and out, from setting hard type to buying paper, from scheduling to running and servicing those thundering printing behemoth presses.

But he wasn’t a capable executive; he had been “peter principled” to be in control by his father’s death solely because he was the heir to the business. So he turned to a friend of his who convinced him to bring in a bunch of “suits” to expand the business. Soon they built a huge new facility on the outskirts of town, filled it with the most modern machinery, and moved away from their core of business– the commercial printing of high-volume jobs like telephone books and Yellow Pages– to fancier, more profitable four-color printing. Seemingly in the time it takes to snap one’s fingers, the business went broke, and my friend is hiding today in a Mexican seaside hovel, avoiding extradition and litigation from a horde of angry creditors.

As Perlemeister so rightly said: it takes one generation to build success and only one or two to bring it to its knees. Bringing in “Rudy Slicks” is a sure recipe for failure.

Bafoon

Going, Going, Golay, Gone!

SAD SIGNS OF THE SAD TIMES
by Perlemeister

Very recent news: the once-upon-a-time pearl & jewelry giant Swiss company, Golay (nee Golay Buchel), is closing up its Lausanne headquarters and letting the last batch of their employees go this month. “A sad saga of an old empire withering after one century” as one former Golay worker put it. A handful of ex-employees have set up a group called Golex, and every September plan to come together for what shall undoubtedly be a rather mournful dinner reunion.

Which leads me to ruminate upon the changing of the guard in these dismal pearling times. You know the old adage: “It takes one generation to make a success, and two to piss it away”? This seems to be happening everywhere. The Professor has written eloquently about the changes in Paspaley Pearling, with disparate family members being called in and elevated to places of responsibility, some of whom are reputed to be discreditable, unsuitable and/or unbefitting... something certainly their patriarch, Nick, and his father were not as they worked assiduously to build their vast holdings. Will we see that empire eventually wither and fade?

Speaking of withering and fading, have you noticed the dearth of pearling news in virtually every jewelry magazine? The U.S. publications have always been historically rather tawdry in this regard, but the saddest showing has to be Jewellery News Asia, once numero uno in this regard. The last several issues have covered the pearl scene by two dull recountings of the dismal and hopefully-soon-to-be-forgotten Dubai convocation quite sometime ago, and an extract from Andy Müller’s June 5th presentation to the European Gemmological Symposium in Berne, Switzerland, (which the Pearl Professor reprised in full not long after it took place).

As a dear friend, knowledgeable as any about the pearl industry, recently put it: “It is time to adapt, time to survive, time to hold on with a new philosophy, and maybe less consumerism.”

Amen.

Pearl-Guide Descends Upon Los Angeles

In an event described by the attending group as a inconsequential ruckus, the pearl-chatterboxes of Pearl-Guide.com are descending upon the city of Los Angeles for weekend of ... what? I’m not sure. What seems to have begun as a mockuparty after discussions of the not-so-consequential pearl convention of 2007, has turned into a genuine meet up, sans the fanfare and media attention given the somewhat more formal gatherings of late.

The festivities began today, commencing with a dinner, followed by a nightclub ruckus. The group will then descend upon the Gem Faire of Los Angeles in the morning, followed by a party at the offices of Pearl Paradise.

The story is, industry discussions are on hold until Sunday, the last day of the event. A list of topics? Who needs them??!! This is, after all, an inconsequential event. However, given this industry’s history of consequential events of the past, this may be just what’s needed to ignite bullish discussions of the future.

Pearls Needed

I received a post this morning from a Mr. Trotta of Boston, USA, who runs a pearl store on Museum Way. He sent me a link to an interesting article from Charleston, Calling All Girls with Pearls.

The High Hopes fundraising committee is calling for girls to donate their pearls to create some magnificent ensemble to auction off at an event. Petit Jewellery Designs has agreed to put together this one-of-a-kind ensemble. They are requesting either cultured or freshwater pearls. I know, I know, freshwater pearls are cultured too. I didn’t write the bloody thing.

I’m keen to see this finished ensemble of pearls. Designing a piece with odds and ends, most likely reject pearls, by a designer who differentiates between cultured and freshwater, is a recipe for a jolly concoction.

If any readers have an extra pearl or two (or 3000) they feel like dumping into this prize pool, pearls can be delivered to Petit Jewellery Designs at 1012 ½ Bridge Road, Charleston, West Virginia, 25314 USA. The only catch, pearls must be there by Monday! It would be amusing to dump a few kilo of pearl on these blokes. There wouldn’t be anything petit about that ensemble.

Fiji Pearl Auction Success

Could this be a glimmer of hope for the rebound of the industry? Is it simply a lucky break for one farmer of Pinctada margaritifera? It is likely too early to tell, but the tremendous results of JHunter’s Pearls Fiji auction in Japan are a promising sign to this industry observer.

“I can’t really tell you why this happened,” Justin told me. “But my thoughts are along these lines. 1) Pearls are very unique color wise and size. 2) People like knowing exactly from who and where these pearls are from.”

“Unfortunately South Sea Pearls and Tahitian Black pearls have become all too common. Our buyers like having the point of difference that our pearls present, and are willing to support us to keep it this way.”

All 23,000 pearls on auction were sold with proceeds totaling more than $550,000 US, far beyond the pre-auction estimate of $350,000. Europeans were the strongest bidders, lead by two German buyers and one Italian. These results are simply outstanding, considering circle lots and “the works” were a part of the average.

Justin is understandably thrilled with the blinding results. Most P. marg. producers in FP would bite your arm off for those numbers just in rounds these days. “I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am,” Justin said. “This was a shot in the arm for me.”

Sometimes it pays dividends to be different and focus on quality over quantity.