History:

1947 born in Belp, Switzerland.
1967: Graduated High School (Handelsgymnasium Kirchenfeld Bern)
1967/1968: Swiss Military Service
1968: Joined Golay Buchel in Lausanne, Pearl Department
1969 June: Joined Golay Buchel Hong Kong, Pearl Department
1972 December: Joined Golay Buchel Kobe/Japan
2002 December: Voluntarily quit Golay Buchel (opened Hinata Trading)

Career Highlights:

1991: Decorated by the Burmese Government for attending the Burma Jade, Gem and Pearl Emporium for 20 consecutive years.

1997: Decorated "Chevalier dans L'Ordre de Tahiti Nui" by French Polynesian President Gaston Flosse. First "perlier" ever to receive the "Chevalier".

From 1978 to 2009, visited Tahiti and its pearl farms approx. 100 times.

Between 1988 and 2001, worked actively on Pearl Farms in Australia and Indonesia several times during harvest and seeding seasons.

2009: Awarded the Gemmological Excellence Award by the Swiss Gemmological Society

Made Various Presentations:

At Pearls '94 Hawaii
To the Government of Tahiti (1998)
The Swiss Gemmological Society 1998)
At the Int'l GIA Symposium in 1999 in San Diego
At the GIA/TGJTA in Bangkok in 2000
At GemmoBasel, Switzerland, 2005
At the European Gemmological Symposium in Berne, 2009

Now: Looking back at 40 years of pearling activities. Still hanging in, and kicking. Full of passion, and enjoying it!