Ho Phi Thuy Pearl Farmer Vietnam

Ho Phi Thuy Pearl Farmer Vietnam

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.

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.”