Hohoemi Brains Inc.
President, Yoshinori Kawabuchi

In 1976, the Hohoemi Jewelry Company was founded in Takamatsu city, Kagawa prefecture. In 2000, the company name was changed to Hohoemi Brains, and its business has been growing steadily. Its business is hard to guess from the company name, and we wonder what the name is meant to convey.

When people think about astronomical observation, they think about planetariums, and I'm sure everybody has an experience of being moved by the movement of constellation or stars that were projected on the dome-shaped ceiling. The lens-projection type of planetarium that we have today was introduced in 1923. It is said that Carl Zeiss Company, a German manufacturer of optical equipment, built this planetarium. Since then, planetariums have spread to various cities in Germany and throughout the world. After that, planetariums made by Carl Zeiss Company came to dominate the market.

Catching the business chance through originality

Kawabuchi, who was born in a farmer family in Kouchi prefecture, began to help his parents to grow pears after graduating from school. Growing pears in those days was quite dependent on the weather or luck, but he said, "I studied about the factors that increase the harvest and the reasons for poor harvest on my own by reading specialized books. Then after repetition of trial and error, I was able to increase the harvest threefold in 3 years. As a result, Niitaka pears that can now maintain a stable supply were able to be traded at a high price in the market." The Niitaka pears produced by the Kawabuchi family grew into a top brand, so much that during the season, a set of two pears were being sold for more than ten thousands yen.

Growing pears was the starting point of overcoming a difficult situation with originality and ingenuity. However, the young Kawabuchi had no intention to take over the family's farm, and went into the world of business.

He founded his own company alone and started to sell health food, and then cosmetics. The industry suffered a blow from the first oil crisis, but he said, "the reason why I could increase the business in that situation was mainly because I did not depend on imitating others." Before long, he went into the jewelry business as Kochi prefecture was an area that produced coral and cultured pearl, and he expanded his dealings all the way from purchasing of rough rubies, sapphires, diamonds, etc. through their processing/sales.

He created a quick response system that took only 2 weeks from receipt of order to delivery, which defied common sense in those days, and the company steadily grew its business, reaching annual sales of 5 hundred million yen in 4 to 5 years. However, in around 1996 after the bubble economy has burst, a sudden downturn in consumption and the rocky road began.

"For 3 years during that period, I could have gone under at any moment. I somehow managed to bring the excess of debt to zero, and I ruminated over whether I should continue this business or not. At that time, I thought which I will have a bigger regret, either by continuing or by quitting, and decided to continue."

It was a new start for Kawabuchi, the company's president, who was already 48 years old.

Aiming for the world's highest level of quality, developed the NC automatic polishing machine

Comparison between an over excellent cut diamond by Hohoemi Brains (right) and a conventional excellent cut diamond (left)

Bringing a new approach to the closed market

At present, the quality of jewelry diamonds is generally graded by the four Cs. That is to say, carat which indicates the weight, color, clarity, and cut; standards are defined for each characteristic and determine the market price.

However, in reality, appraisal institutions issue their own certificates, and the dealers use them to determine the prices. Because of this, a strange phenomenon occurs where the price could vary by as much as 20 to 50 percent for the same item, depending on the day or by the appraiser. Kawabuchi, the company's president, regard this as a world where "Nobody is accountable, and people get away with unfair practices."

"I wondered if I can introduce a concept of fairness into this unfair market, and the over excellent cut diamond was born as a result. The grading of four Cs evaluates the value of the diamonds, but not how beautiful the diamonds appear to the eye. Cut is the only characteristic within the four Cs that human beings can influence, and the standard of excellent cut which is the current mainstream was established more than 100 years ago. Science and technology advanced dramatically since that time. The starting point of my idea was a thought that it should be possible to make a cut that gives a more beautiful sparkle."

The idea led to the development of the NC automatic polishing machine, and the over excellent cut diamond that is finished with this machine shows a more intense sparkle, dynamic sense of shimmer and rich color, and even though it is the same as the 58 faceted round brilliant cut diamond generally used for jewelry, the difference in their sparkle is quite obvious.

It became possible to establish a fair market by precise three-dimensional optical analysis, or by defining grading indices that quantify characteristics such as sparkle intensity that take human sensitivity to visual light into consideration. "However, we were thoroughly ignored by the industry which has been dominated by the existing way of thinking to protect their vested interests. So I decided to show the beauty of the sparkle directly to the consumers," Kawabuchi, the company's president said.

Turning dreams into shape

Due to the development of the new cutting technology, the company was selected as one of the "2009 Introducing 300 of Japan's Dynamic Monozukuri (Manufacturing) Small and Medium Enterprise Award" by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Also, the company acquired patents not only in Japan but in other countries around the world such as the U.S., Europe and Russia. It caught the attention of major global diamond suppliers, and furthermore in Japan, it achieved new entry into the jewelry section at major department stores which have always been highly competitive, and came to enjoy a high reputation.

Following the cutting of diamonds, the company focused on gold and developed the "Gold Master," a gold-colored alloy material through joint research with Tokyo Institute of Technology. Normally, when the content rate of gold decreases, the sparkle of gold gradually fades away and becomes whitish, but this alloy succeeded in maintaining the natural color of gold even though it doesn't contain any gold.

Gold plating and metals with color that resemble gold had problems with not being expensive-looking or durability, but this material is expected to have a wide application to accessories, jewelries, plateware, furniture, or building materials. This is also an item that was born from a free idea.

"As the economy gets worse, the jewelry industry is definitely hurting, but we should be able to recover quickly if we don't forget that this business is not just about making/selling jewelry but also about turning our dreams into shape," Kawabuchi, the company's president, said forcefully.

The pictures show the laser reflection points when all surfaces of the diamonds are irradiated from the front with laser beams. As the number of points increase, the possibility to take in the light gets higher, and the sparkle and sense of shimmer increase. The picture on the right is the over excellent cut diamond. The picture on the left is the excellent cut.

Hohoemi Brains, Inc. :
Diamond cutting/sales, production/manufacturing/wholesale/sales of jewelry/precious metal products

Head Office: Oshitani Bldg., 1-20-17, Ginza, Chuo-ku,
104-0061, Tokyo, Japan
TEL: +81-3-6426-7500
FAX: +81-3-3538-1115
Capital: 281.7 million yen
Number of employee: 35
http://www.hohoemi.co.jp/