Dreams – Spring 2004

In New York, on Fifth Avenue, at my friends' Ella and Talila Gafter, I had the good luck to meet Nick Paspaley.

Nick was visiting New York for a day, and gave me a few minutes of his precious time. "Cool" is the most appropriate way to describe him. Cowboy boots made of galuchat, dressed in blue jeans, he looks more like a rocker than like the head of an empire.

The story of Paspaley and pearliculture started 75 years ago. It was a long way characterized by courage, determination, risk, large investments, luck, and a lot of work. "Today," says Nick, "Australian pearls are true marvels of nature, the most rare and remarkable."

The Paspaley House has always had a privileged relationship with Ella and Talila Gafter. Every year they are invited to the harvest that takes place in summer. In the farms, Ella selects the pearls, one by one, pearls that shall be magnificently displayed in her creations. The meeting is not fortuitous, for it is beauty which meets beauty, witness the images that follow.

They were taken by a grand master of photography, Douglas Dubler, an artist whose work has been repeatedly shown in New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. Next year he will be featured in the Shenshen Art Museum in China!