Australian Pearl Divers
In 1967, Grandfather Jack Musgrave Blaiklock, a New Zealander, a wholesale jewellery trader and a visionary, moved to Australia, with his son Graeme Blaiklock. Graeme fell in love with the Jewellery industry and traded sucessfully for many years. In 1982, Graeme started his own Opal company Australian Opal Cutters in Sydney Australia. He was inspired by a local limousine driver whose guests "complained that they could get better prices back home". From these humble beginnings grew the word-of-mouth phenomenon that is "Australian Opal Cutters".
Today Australian Opal Cutters has grown to be the world's leading producer of skilfully cut and polished Opals and Opal jewellery.
30+ years later the company, still family-owned and run by Jason (3rd generation family member), and has a global reach with exclusive cruise liners and a presence in over 38 countries.
Australian Opal Cutters comprises two major businesses, one cutting and polishing loose opals and the other creating hand-crafted jewellery products.
Graeme has been actively involved in all areas of the gem and jewellery trades for decades including manufacturing, retailing, trade shows and wholesaling. He brings a depth of knowledge to the industry, but, more importantly, a deep love for the industry and the customers (who are the lifeblood of any business!)
A high demand for quality pearls resulted in the founding of Australian Pearl Divers as a branch of Australian Opal Cutters in the mid 1990's.
Australian Pearl Divers are "aggregators" which means that Graeme travels far and wide to find the best farms, producing the finest quality pearls at the most competitive prices. Once these pearl 'parcels' have been purchased they will be absorbed into the collection and presented for sale. Graeme regularly checks his pearls in a very sophisticated gem testing machine known as a "Spectrometer". This machine is able to determine not only the type of pearl, but tell if a pearl has been dyed or not! A most valuable tool as a pearl should be natural in it's origin as well as its color (an a spectrometer is the only way to test this!)
Australian Pearl Divers is most likely the closest any customer will every get to "diving for pearls" themselves!