Only one good take a look at a pearl and Jennifer Tanpoco can simply assess and gauge its worth. Greater than 20 years of coaching overseas and dealing in pearl buying and selling geared up her with the technical know-how, abilities, and experience with regards to pearls. Tagged because the “Queen of Pearls within the Philippines,” Tanpoco’s eyes lit up with ardour as quickly as she started unpacking her journey. Recent from her stint within the Los Angeles Style Week, in partnership with famend Filipino designer Avel Bacudio, Tanpoco has massive plans for the pearl trade not solely within the Philippines but additionally across the globe.

Jennifer Tanpoco, tagged because the Queen of Pearls within the Philippines

A licensed public accountant by occupation, Jenni used to work because the nation supervisor in an organization owned by Robert Wan in 1998. Wan is internationally often called the “Emperor of Tahitian Pearls,” the kind of pearls thought-about among the many world’s best gems. The pearl authority noticed Tanpoco’s potential in pearl tradition, so she turned a trusted distributor of his model. Tanpoco and her architect-entrepreneur husband Mark are two of the few pearl merchants accredited by Robert Wan and have entry to his pearl farms in Tahiti. It was Mark who introduced up the concept of distributing Tahitian pearls within the Philippines and Robert immediately agreed.

Jaune Pearls was born in 2002 and the Tanpoco firm joined the celebrated record of Wan’s collaborators — high jewelers and trend designers like Dupont, Harry Winston, Tiffany & Co., Chaumet, Boucheron, Chanel, Jean Paul Gautier, Mikimoto, and Chow Ta Fook. Because the pearls come uncooked from a non-public island within the French Polynesia, Tanpoco works on sorting and matching the items completely for her purchasers. The identical high-quality pearls make it to Hollywood and are noticed being worn by celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton, Keira Knightley, and Kris Jenner.

“Pearls are very precious. Harvesting can take three to 10 years. To make a uniform strand in dimension and form requires time and abilities,” Tanpoco stated.

With the world’s ‘Emperor of Pearls’ Robert Wan

“I’m honored and humbled to have a full expertise beneath Robert’s tutelage,” Tanpoco talked about, highlighting her longstanding friendship and enterprise partnership with the Emperor of Pearls.

She continued, “Mark and I made a decision to market pearls not present within the Philippines. Our product designs are uncommon and of top of the range, making them unique items.” Very quickly, greater than twenty years in the past, Jenni began turning into the trusted jeweler of society and leisure A-listers. Socialites and celebrities flock to Jenni for distinctive and bespoke items. One among her pearl patrons is the Queen of All Media, Kris Aquino, who additionally lovingly gave her the nickname Jenni Pearls.

“In some components of Asia, oysters are developed in laboratories. The colour will be manipulated. What makes our pearls completely different is that we retain the unique state.

The luster and colour are all-natural,” Tanpoco defined. Displaying concern for sustainability and respect for the atmosphere, she went in-depth, “The oyster is of course considerable, naturally grown within the ocean. There aren’t any hatcheries and chemical compounds concerned so the farming is sustainable.”

Jaune Pearls

Her ardour is overflowing and it’s no shock she was in a position to go it on to her daughter, actress and recording artist Melizza Jimenez. It’s fairly becoming for Jimenez to get entangled as Jaune, the enterprise model, is her second identify. A fascinating pearl colour, jaune additionally means yellow in French.

Jimenez, now being teased because the Pearl Princess-in-progress, is presently endeavor her undergraduate research in Australia’s high media and communication college, rating number one in Australia and sixteenth globally. She is engaged on a particular challenge for subsequent 12 months, one she hopes will elevate pearl appreciation to higher heights. Whereas her mother’s most premium pearls are sorted and matched for the VIPs, Jimenez goals to make different high-quality pearls extra accessible to the youthful market. Her older sister Maika Rivera, additionally seen as an actress, helps out in public relations and advertising and marketing in overseas cities like New York Metropolis and Los Angeles.

“I’m very a lot in love with pearls,” Jimenez smilingly shared. “I need folks to see why. The entire technique of it’s so attention-grabbing. From historic instances thus far, the royals have beloved pearls as they’re identified to draw happiness and constructive energies. The pure and uncommon gems are given as presents to royal households all around the world. Again then, solely the royals have been able to sporting pearls.”

Tanpoco chimed in, “The kings and queens wore pearls as symbols of energy and wealth. They traded pearls earlier than they traded gasoline and oil.” In trendy instances, many world leaders are captivated by pearls’ attraction and luck, the mother-and-daughter tandem added.

Jimenez’s wealth of information on pearls is backed by her years of publicity to the enterprise and formal coaching. The younger fanatic took a six-month on-line course and earned her pearl diploma from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and went to New York Metropolis to do hands-on work in a laboratory. Jenni earned the identical diploma in 2015. Collectively, Jimenez and mother Tanpoco took a 10-day journey to Tahiti and immediately educated beneath Robert Wan.

“Melizza is aware of learn how to make pearls right into a marketable state. She is aware of learn how to type, grade, match, and design ideas,” Tanpoco added, additional establishing Jimenez’s credentials in dealing with the household enterprise. “Robert Wan additionally accredited of her being the ambassador of pearls for the youth.”

Jimenez is presently engaged on enhancing the corporate’s web site and an intimate assortment beneath the identical model which is able to use Robert Wan’s unique patent know-how referred to as Ariake.

“Solely three folks within the Philippines educated by Robert can do it,” she shared. “The outcomes are lovely that they’re corresponding to items you will discover at The Met or The Louvre.”

“Pearls are the one gems that come from a residing organism,” Tanpoco emphasised. “Pearls are like fingerprints and NFTs (nonfungible tokens), they’re distinctive. They need to have layers of gorgeous colours and good luster. If pearls haven’t any luster, they haven’t any worth.”

These attention-grabbing tidbits on the worth of pearls are a part of the training she needs to supply extra folks. Whereas they’re uncommon and precious, Tanpoco and Jimenez hope to make folks notice that the gems are additionally for everybody and never unique to any gender. Actually, Jimenez shared how pearls are noticed in males’s wardrobe like these of celebrities Harry Kinds, Jacob Elordi, and Timothée Chalamet.

“Jaune Pearls is not only about enterprise but additionally sustaining and creating long-term relationships,” Jimenez provided. Her mother added, “As a household, we discover pleasure in our purchasers’ confidence and happiness.” With the fervour, consideration to element, and laborious work exemplified by the Tanpocos, they’re dedicated to giving their purchasers one of the best. As she stated, “High quality pearls are priceless.”

With so many issues Tanpoco is about to supply, the world is her oyster.