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I am a bespoke fine jewellery designer with nearly 40 years of professional design and handcraft experience. I received systematic training in gemmology and elaborate metal craftsmanship early in my career, laying a…
Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?
I am a bespoke fine jewellery designer with nearly 40 years of professional design and handcraft experience. I received systematic training in gemmology and elaborate metal craftsmanship early in my career, laying a solid technical foundation for creating works with precious materials.
A remarkable milestone in my career was being invited by a renowned temple to design the head crown for its Buddha statue. It is a great honour and precious karmic connection to complete this sacred ornament. I integrated traditional religious culture with exquisite jewellery making techniques for this piece, applying my years of expertise in fine ornament creation.
My main focus is developing exclusive, one-of-a-kind artistic jewellery for private collectors. I base my creations on profound traditional Eastern philosophies, selecting materials and arranging designs carefully to help wearers balance their bodily energy. This experience of crafting sacred art has deepened my ability to infuse spiritual connotations into handcrafted pieces and shaped my unique design philosophy.
How did you become a designer?
My love for jewellery began entirely of my own accord in early childhood. My mother bought me a bead toy, and with no guidance or pressure from anyone, I began creating jewellery pieces independently. I was able to focus on this pastime for hours on end, developing a sincere love for jewellery from a young age.
As I grew older, I turned this childhood passion into my lifelong career. I completed systematic training in gemmology and intricate metal craftsmanship, and built up decades of hands-on experience to become a bespoke fine jewellery designer.
I chose to pursue design purely out of heartfelt affection for jewellery. I was never pushed to take up this profession. I am endlessly captivated by the aesthetic charm of jewellery. Being a designer lets me create one-of-a-kind artistic pieces, integrate Eastern philosophies to balance the wearer’s bodily energy, and develop exclusive works for private collectors. This innate passion for jewellery has kept me committed to design for decades.
What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?
My three core design priorities are drawing inspiration from cosmic connection, embedding the client’s personal love into each work, and ensuring reliable craftsmanship for production.
First, I draw original inspiration by keeping a connection with the universe. I settle my mind to receive intuitive cosmic inspiration, which forms the base of all my hand sketches, as true creation stems from this bond with the cosmos.
Second, I communicate closely with clients. I listen to their ideas and the affection they hope to place in the jewellery, revising my designs repeatedly to fit their needs. Every piece is crafted to carry their unique love and personal story.
Third, I prioritize practical craftsmanship, picking proper materials and viable structures for later production.
I only create hand-drawn sketches personally and do not use any digital design tools myself. Once my final sketches are confirmed, I pass them to specialists to make 3D renderings for manufacturing.
All my works share a fixed core theme: integrating cosmic harmony with each client’s individual love and emotion.
For any new project, I first calm my mind to receive cosmic inspiration for an initial design direction. I then discuss deeply with the client to grasp their feelings, draw sketches and adjust the design continuously, until the work unites cosmic spiritual harmony and the client’s own affection.
Which emotions do you feel when designing?
I settle into a calm and focused state to gather inspiration before sketching. On one distinct occasion, I pictured my jewellery design surrounded by gentle golden light in my mind. The complete vision of the piece was so beautiful that I was moved to tears. When talking over demands with clients and revising my hand-drawn drafts for them, I hold sincere care to incorporate their affection into the design.
The most exciting phase for me is gaining this clear inspirational vision and drawing it down on paper for the first time. My favourite part of creation is adjusting sketches after communicating with clients, to craft a bespoke design that fits them perfectly.
Designing brings me genuine inner delight. This sense of fulfilment from turning a profound inner vision into a tangible, loving piece of jewellery is a joy that money can never buy. A design must touch my own heart deeply first, and only then can it strike a chord with its owner.
What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?
I have developed two key non-design abilities that fuel my success as a jewellery designer.
The first is mastering focused meditation on demand. It shuts out outside noise so I can access original, intuitive inspiration for my pieces, developing distinct creative ideas that cannot be replicated by others.
The second is empathetic client communication. I am able to pick up on my clients’ quiet feelings and the affection they wish to place into custom-made jewellery. This lets me customise every design to align with their personal stories, and my clients consistently value these personalised works deeply.
What has shaped my design approach more than anything is my commitment to original hand sketching. Since I began designing, I have avoided ready-made templates entirely. I translate the creative visions I receive into drawings myself, and refine each sketch little by little based on what my clients need. This consistent habit has allowed me to make heartfelt, entirely unique jewellery throughout my career.
What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?
My growth as a designer started with polishing my original hand sketching skills and gaining creative inspiration through meditation to make jewellery infused with genuine feelings. As I worked on more custom designs, I formed a firm core belief: outstanding design and aesthetic enjoyment ought not be reserved exclusively for the wealthy. Great design succeeds when its beauty can be appreciated and owned by people from all walks of life.
Looking ahead, I will keep developing my artistic jewellery design concepts and take part in international design events to share my design philosophy worldwide. I will make long-term preparations to establish my own independent jewellery brand.
My dream design project is founding a touching jewellery brand built on universal love. Every piece of jewellery from this brand will be created with abundant sincere emotion and elaborate artistic design, made to resonate deeply and move those who wear them. I strive to make works carrying beauty and warm affection accessible to broader audiences of all financial means. A portion of sales revenue will be donated to charitable causes. With this brand, I wish to prove that the priceless emotional power of thoughtful design has no financial barriers, and bring the integration of jewellery art, aesthetics and love to countless people.
What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?
My key advice for new designers is to always focus on original work and avoid over-relying on AI. AI designs feel rigid and lack heartfelt warmth, as they only remix existing works rather than carrying your own unique feelings.
Broaden your inspiration by visiting museums and studying different forms of art regularly. Real artistic exposure helps you build a one-of-a-kind aesthetic sense that cannot be copied by machines.
Never ignore practicality in your design. A beautiful piece that cannot be worn or used comfortably serves no real purpose. Strike a balance between artistic expression and everyday usability.
Grow your knowledge by learning from experienced creators, and let your own genuine observations and emotions sit at the heart of every design you make.
You are truly successful as a designer, what do you suggest to fellow designers, artists and architects?
To fellow designers, artists and architects, feel free to let your imagination wander freely and craft bold creative concepts. A design does not have to be highly practical for daily use to hold value; it only needs to be visually pleasing and comforting to behold, helping viewers cultivate and elevate their aesthetic taste. A strong sense of aesthetics will be an increasingly precious skill in the world ahead. Designers carry significant weight in building a beautiful future, for our core work is creating beauty to share with others, which makes this a truly noble and meaningful profession.
What is your day to day look like?
I maintain a relaxed and natural pace throughout my working days. I spend plenty of time reading books and studying art materials constantly, and regularly visit museums, travel to different places to observe diverse scenery and cultures, and casually collect all kinds of inspiration from the world around me. I never force creative work; these accumulated observations and impressions become a rich reserve of materials that I can draw from whenever I start designing jewellery later on.
How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?
I do not follow or chase prevailing design trends at all. I create freely according to my own artistic intuition and preferences, with no pursuit of fleeting fashion styles. While I acknowledge varied personal aesthetics among people, I aim to break rigid, outdated conventional mindsets in my creation, yet I will never blindly copy popular trends. I only take casual notice of trends as a passive reference of public tastes rather than a guide for my work. My inspiration comes from museums, travel and diverse artworks, and I devote myself to developing my own unique and timeless design language that stays true to myself.
How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?
I define good design as a creation that blends distinctive artistic character, practical functionality, lasting collectible value and subtle visual appeal for its user. Pieces made only for competitions or exhibitions have little practical value in daily life, since their overcomplicated structures are not suited for regular use. I instantly recognize a successful design when it fits daily routine use, carries enough refined charm for the owner to display on suitable occasions, and maintains steady long-term value sought by collectors. One common design flaw to steer clear of is focusing on eye-catching but unworkable details purely for display purposes. My core standards for judging a design are practical performance, enduring collectible value, one-of-a-kind original style, and proper aesthetics that allow the owner to showcase the work proudly.
How do you decide if your design is ready?
I will regard my design as ready only after repeated revisions and double confirmation from both myself and the client. First of all, the design drawing must satisfy my own artistic standards and align with my original creative idea. After I approve the draft, I will present it to the client for review and feedback. No design can be finalized right after the initial sketch; adjustments and modifications are almost always necessary. I will revise the work continuously according to the client’s demands until they are fully content with every detail.
A design has truly reached its completed state only when I am satisfied with its artistic quality and the client approves it wholeheartedly. I hold the view that there is no absolute perfect design, yet I stop further revisions once both sides reach full agreement, so as to move forward to fabrication and other new projects. I seldom adjust a fully confirmed finished design afterward. To me, a project turns into a success when the finalized work wins mutual recognition from myself and the client, and meets the wearer’s needs for daily use, collection and presentation.
What is your biggest design work?
My biggest design work is The One Bodhi Leaf, my most cherished jewellery piece. The entire process from initial idea to finished product took nearly two years, the longest development period of any work I have ever made, and the journey was full of difficulties.
I created this single bodhi leaf piece for its quiet oriental symbolic meaning. My original goal was to capture the natural elegance of one leaf, creating a simple wearable jewel with inner spiritual meaning and no unnecessary embellishments.
Over the two years of handcrafting, I revised the design many times. The hardest part was hunting for suitable gemstones and raw materials to match the texture of a real bodhi leaf; good materials were very hard to find. I completed all designing and crafting work by hand with no computers. I only faced digital difficulties when submitting this work to the A' Design Award: my weak computer skills made filling out detailed online forms and uploading materials much more time-consuming for me.
This piece represents my years of handcraft experience and two years of perseverance, so I consider it my finest work. It won an A' Design Award, which is great encouragement to me. I am thankful for the award’s well-structured system; taking part has given me many learning opportunities and connections with global designers to expand my outlook.
Its speciality lies in its minimalist single-leaf shape, which holds rich symbolic meaning while being practical for daily wear. My main challenges were sourcing rare materials, repeated manual revisions, and the complex online award application process.
Finishing this work after two years of efforts brought me great satisfaction. I am now developing new jewellery inspired by natural forms, ready to apply what I have learned from this project to my upcoming creations.
Who is your favourite designer?
Wallace Chan is my favourite jewellery designer. He is highly creative, and his works are classic and beautiful with powerful artistic value. Unlike many designers who copy others, he completes all his designs entirely on his own with original concepts.
Would you tell us a bit about your lifestyle and culture?
To be honest, my lifestyle and work are pretty much the same thing. I grew up in Hong Kong and also studied in the US and Canada. I’m deeply influenced by both Eastern and Western cultures, and this cultural blend inspires all my creations.
I work entirely on my own as an independent designer, taking care of every single part of the work. I communicate openly and sincerely with clients, and I always stick to my original creative ideas.
I insist on making original, high-quality works and never copy others. Running everything alone is challenging at times, but I keep exploring and staying innovative. In my opinion, a great designer needs curiosity, perseverance and the courage to create.
Would you tell us more about your work culture and business philosophy?
As an independent designer, my work culture is built on open communication, integrity, and respect for original creativity. I work mostly alone, and when selecting partners or collaborators, I value honesty, reliability, and a shared passion for quality work. It’s easy to work with me because I’m flexible, open to feedback, and transparent in communication.
My business philosophy is to stay true to my creative vision while meeting clients’ needs, never compromising on originality or craftsmanship. I take full responsibility for every stage of my projects. The core challenges include balancing creativity with business demands and staying inspired under deadlines. I think a good designer, artist, or architect should have curiosity, resilience, courage to take risks, patience, adaptability, and a willingness to learn.
What are your philanthropic contributions to society as a designer, artist and architect?
I have created design works for temples completely free of charge. I do not charge any design fees, and I also cover all the material costs on my own. These works are my donations to the temples.
To me, design is never just about making products for sale. It carries warmth and care. I often help clients with limited financial means by waiving my design fees, as I hope to use my skills to give back to the community.
I fully support creators who take part in humanitarian projects. I also share my experience at design events to encourage young designers. Good design should bring positive value to people and the whole society.
What positive experiences you had when you attend the A' Design Award?
Taking part in this international design competition was a great learning experience. I had quite a few difficulties as I am not good with computers. I learned all the rules and steps entirely on my own. In my sixties, this is such a new experience for me.
I am really grateful to A' Design Award for offering me so many opportunities and helping me learn a lot. Winning the award also gives me new plans. Many people advise me to start doing self-media, and I want to have a try. I think it is really fun.