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Ho Ngoc Thuy - the man of pearls

Written by Nguyen Quoc Thiet Saturday, 22 May 2010 16:27

VietNamNet Bridge – Phu Quoc Island is endowed with many natural advantages and is well-known as a home to precious shining pearls. For about ten years, the island has been known as the country’s largest pearl farm and the most famous brand of pearl transplanting is Ngoc Hien of the owner named Ho Phi Thuy.

 

Ho Ngoc Thuy in his pearl showroom on Phu Quoc.

Life of Thuy must be a beautiful story about a strong will overcoming the fate of poverty and hardship. At 19, after graduation from high school, he left his poor homeland in Ha Tinh for Phu Quoc and started the job of diving to find natural pearls. Thuy lived with a group of fellow farmers on a small island about five kilometers from Phu Quoc Town and separated from the bustling outside life.

“At first, I was not used to diving 20 meters so my ears bled and my rib-cage seemed to break out. One of my divers died and another got paralyzed caused by brain artery breakout while diving. I was so scared but I could not give up my way for my earnings,” said Thuy. After three years of working hard and living thriftily, Thuy became a diver at a depth of 60 meters to find pearls and could buy a small boat.

In 1990, Thuy was hired by a Japanese pearl transplanting company on Phu Quoc after they had bought many natural pearls from him. They also bought his boat and paid him VND1.7 million a month, a pretty good salary at that time.

Since then, Thuy spent half of each day diving and the rest following Japanese expert Horikiri Seiji to learn pearl transplanting. Thuy shared, “Natural pearls are often evaluated higher than manmade ones but natural shapes are often husky while manmade pearls are brighter and smoother. To have beautiful manmade pearls, artisans are required a high experience and talented skills, especially they have to know the proper time for pearls to grow in the best conditions.”

“Naturally, when the pearls open their mouths, they will release a special protective substance which will become pearls. Therefore, the artisans have to know how to stimulate the pearls to open their mouths to carry out transplantation and the kernels must be put carefully in the middle of the pearl meat,” he added.

Thuy applied all his knowledge and passion from the Japanese expert and finally started making beautiful pearls by himself. “Thuy embraces a strong will and a profound passion for the job, so his products are as good as products of Japanese experts,” said Seiji.

In 1997, the company closed during the global economic recession. Thuy bought all the company’s machines and stocked pearls for VND400 million. Then, he established Ngoc Hien Pearl Transplanting Company, the first company of it kind in Vietnam at that time. He also invited Seiji to stay and develop the company. To promote his products to tourists, Thuy opens a show room on a beach in Duong To District. He also owns a 20-hectare pearl farm on the shore for tourists to visit and learn how to transplant and grow pearls.

After twenty years of living and making pearls, Thuy is well-known as one of the country’s leading experts in transplanting pearls. He has finished procedures to buy a 100%-foreign-invested pearl transplanting company in Vung Tau and he is going to expand his operation in Cambodia.

With a blazing passion to make attractive pearls, Thuy deserves to be called the man of pearl.

VietNamNet/SGT