One of the first Chinese designers to make it in the West mixes traditions

After more than 30 years working as a designer, jewelry and accessories consultant and art historian, Hong Kong native Kai-Yin Lo is still surprised at how fast semiprecious jewelry is catching on.

"When I first started there were two categories in jewelry: diamonds and precious stones set in gold or platinum, or the fake stuff," Lo said. "Now, semiprecious is everywhere. If you go into a store anywhere, a junk store or Bergdorf Goodman, it's a big category.

"It didn't exist before and they didn't even have a department to put it in," she said. "Now it's commonplace and I'm very pleased that this range has a following in China, but it did not exist 30 years ago."

Lo said the spread of semiprecious jewelry in the last few decades has been astonishing.

"Jewelry is really a representation of your sense of value," Lo said. "From caveman times the sport of ornamentation is to add attraction, whether to make yourself more attractive or a direct calling for others' attraction.

"As civilization developed, people realized that they wanted ornamentation in more valuable things," she said. "So the sense of value, or what we interpreted as innate value, was represented in commercial value."

Lo made her comments on Thursday at the Asia Society Museum Store, which hosted a display of her latest designs.

As one of the first Chinese designers to find a foothold in the global market, Lo is known most for her contemporary, traditional Chinese jewelry and her use of semiprecious stones set in silver.

Lo is also an expert on Chinese art and culture and has published five books in English and Chinese on topics ranging from Chinese ceramics to design.

Her work features a simultaneous influence of East and West that critics have called a reflection on China and Asia's past and present.

"I'm a historian and I like to connect things," Lo said. "History is all-encompassing and not only connects categories, but it also connects terrain, thoughts and cultures. So when you look at a necklace, or any piece of jewelry, it's really an interpretation of culture.

"Each country values its heritage," she said. "The Chinese care about their history and I use scattered pieces to put them together in some meaningful and attractive way."

Lo said she is also amazed by the connections she has made and maintained with customers over her jewelry, adding that she has been the beneficiary of a "very faithful" group of followers.

"My jewelry is a fashion statement, but it is not fashion per se according to the changing season," she said.

"Yes, you can wear it for a long time, but I marveled that so many of them have such wonderful things from almost 20 years ago. They continuously wear it and that gives me a lot of satisfaction."

Her designs have been featured at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Harrods of London. Lo said the prices of her pieces range from $200 to $25,000.

jackfreifelder@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 06/26/2015 page2)