Perhaps the most famous figure in Tahitian pearling, Robert Wan was born in French Polynesia to Chinese immigrants in the early 1930s. Sensing the amazing possibility for farming Black South Sea pearls in his native Tahiti, Robert Wan visited Japan, learning from cultured pearl farming experts and receiving exclusive commissions from the illustrious Mikimoto Pearl Company in the early 1970's. Robert Wan then built his empire, establishing his first pearl farm on the famed island of Rikitea, and later across various other islands in Tahiti, becoming the most prominent pearl farmer in Tahiti's history. He then, as Mikimoto did with Japanese Akoya pearls, toured the world as a pearl ambassador successfully popularizing Black South Sea pearls with famous jewelers, celebrities and even monarchs.