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 A nicked pearl opens a
treasure of innovation. Ben Casnocha is author of My Start-Up Life:
What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon
Valley. This article appears in the November issue of eJournal
USA, Roots of Innovation.
By Ben Casnocha
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Chi Huynh had a dream: leave
his homeland of Vietnam and create a new life in California. A few
years later, he packed up his possessions and did it. The journey to
California wasn’t easy. A harrowing boat ride and a stint as a
refugee in Thailand were just some of the travails. Finally reaching
the shores of California marked a “spiritual turning
point” for Huynh: Having seen much ugliness in his life, from
that day forward he wanted to see and create beauty each and every
day.
Jewelry making, a craft his father had mastered in Vietnam,
seemed like the perfect way to live out this vision. Huynh called
his jewelry enterprise Galetea and based it in Los Angeles County.
In early 2000, Huynh somewhat accidentally became an
innovator. After nicking a traditional pearl during the carving
process and exposing its mother-of-pearl center, “I thought to
myself, ‘What would happen if I grew a pearl using gemstone
beads to let the color show through?’” he says. Doing
just that would lead to his signature innovation — the Mercy
Pearl, which is the name of the pearl cultured with a gemstone bead
technique. It took time for Huynh to fully develop his carve-by-hand
Mercy Pearl technique, but it is now considered one of the most
significant variations in pearl farming since the early part of the
20th century, when pearls were first cultured in Japan. And he
secured a patent on the Mercy Pearl.
In 2005, to grow his operation and reconnect with his roots,
Huynh set up a pearl farm in his native Vietnam to harvest the Mercy
Pearl in the country’s coastal waters. The oysters are first
enucleated with perfectly round gemstone beads such as turquoise,
amethyst, garnet, citrine, and opal, then left to grow for almost a
year to obtain a luxurious nacre, or exterior coating. His farm
enables more production and therefore an ultimately wider
dissemination of his innovative pearl technique.
Huynh’s story shines with perseverance: from stranded
child in war-torn Vietnam to successful American jeweler. He had a
vision to bring more beauty into the world, and he has worked
tirelessly to make it happen. His story also reveals the
innovator’s mindset. Instead of just making the last version
of something a little bit better, Huynh believes true innovators
blaze new trails: “No one will take you seriously unless you
create your own ground. This is the difference between a good
concept and a great one, between an OK design and one that is
transcendent.”
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