It may be hard to top the glamour of Mikimoto’s Fifth Avenue flagship store in New York, but the pearl experts certainly have tried at its reimagined West Coast boutique, creating a “delicate, luxurious space” that celebrates Japanese creativity.
The Costa Mesa, Calif., boutique, which reopened Aug. 15, had been closed for renovations since April 2022. This store concept is aligned with the luxury jewelry brand’s New York flagship, officials say, emphasizing storytelling both in terms of the Mikimoto heritage as well as its new and classic jewelry collections.
The inspiration, says Georgina Coleman, Mikimoto’s senior vice president of retail, is the Japanese waterways, where company founder Kokichi Mikimoto developed the brand’s pearl cultivation technique in 1893.
For example, the Costa Mesa space includes a custom-made metal chandelier that seems to take up the entire ceiling and appears to move much like a school of fish. The interior features warm gold accents and curves that replicate sea waves across the store.
To highlight the brand’s Japanese heritage, the Costa Mesa store also uses foil-stamped paper and folding screens, giving consumers a feel for traditional Japanese materials and craftsmanship.
The store features Mikimoto’s classic jewelry as well as its newer collections, including a specialty for the Costa Mesa reopening: the second installment of Passionoir, a collection featuring black South Sea cultured pearls set in rhodium-plated silver. The interior also includes a VIP client salon for one-on-one meetings.
“We are thrilled to reopen the doors of our Costa Mesa boutique and welcome clients to a new and immersive store experience that parallels the design of our New York City flagship,” Coleman tells JCK. “The Costa Mesa boutique opening marks our third storefront introduction since 2020 and signals the brand’s continued growth and commitment within the U.S.”
The Costa Mesa store has been open since 1996. Mikimoto’s other U.S. retail stores are located on Fifth Avenue in New York; the Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif.; and Wynn, Las Vegas. International locations include Ginza, Tokyo; New Bond Street, London; Place Vendôme, Paris; mainland China; Hong Kong; Singapore; and Thailand.
The New York City boutique that serves as Mikimoto’s U.S. flagship store opened more than year ago. This two-story location is a sister to the brand’s Tokyo store design. The New York site features marine blue as its signature color, seashell and wave textural accents, and a stainless steel ceiling that makes the viewer feel like he or she is looking at the water’s surface.
Top: Japanese luxury jewelry brand Mikimoto reopened its Costa Mesa, Calif., boutique at South Coast Plaza on Aug. 15, featuring an all-new store format and redesign that reflects the brand’s rich Japanese heritage and parallels the design of its flagship store in New York City (photos courtesy of Mikimoto).
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