ICONIC BRANDS
Gems from the sea Recognised as pioneers of the Australian South Sea pearling industry, the Paspaley Group is a family-owned and run Australian company with a heritage spanning 80 years and three generations.
WORDS SUSAN LANG-LEMCKERT
James Paspaley, Chief Executive Officer of the Paspaley Group of Companies
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“I THINK HUMANS are fascinated with treasure,” is James Paspaley’s précis of humankind’s historical fascination with pearls. “It’s the notion of an adventure that ends with finding treasure … pearling still has that romantic draw to it.” And as Chief Executive Officer of the Paspaley Group of Companies and grandson of the organisation’s founder, Nicholas Paspaley MBE (Senior), James is better acquainted than most with the spherical gems from the sea. “I have no memories without pearling,” he says. “My mum and dad first took me on pearling boats when I was a few months old, and it was fairly regular from then on. My school holidays were spent at sea with my dad on the pearling boats, and the business was always part of our everyday lives.” In the past 80 years that business has grown to become Australia’s largest and the world’s leading South Sea pearl company, yet it remains family owned and operated. “A lot of the basics are the same [as for nonfamily-run companies],” says James. “There are some strong dynamics there, but it’s really positive. I can sit down at a board meeting to discuss strategic views and figures for the company with up to 11 family members, then we’ll close the door and go to have Christmas lunch together. “As humans we spend so much of our lives at work; so if you don’t enjoy the people you work with, you don’t have much of a life. But I’m really lucky – my colleagues are my cousins and my very best friends.”
“People like the notion of the fact you don’t have to dig a great hole in the ground and destroy nature to get their pearls.” – James Paspaley James’s enthusiasm for pearling spans all of the organisation’s activities – from operation of the pearl farms themselves to the harvesting, to wholesale dealing and the design of pieces to the final point of sale at retail outlets. “Our core business is pearl production and wholesale – culturing pearls at the pearl farms is still the lion’s share of our activity,” he explains. “And because I grew up with it, it feels a bit like home to me out there. I love to get out of my office and spend a few days at sea, to see where the real work gets done. “Waking in the morning and watching the sunrise on Broome’s Eighty Mile Beach is just phenomenal,” he says. “Recently I took some clients up there, and within five minutes of being on the water we had seen a whale. The sea was clear and blue, and it was just fabulous. There’s something about the feeling you get from being in the middle of the hive of activity of dive ships that’s always a bit magic to me. “Going out to sea to find a wonderful organic creature that lives in a remote part of the world and creates beautiful gems still has that wonderment to it,” he says. >>