The only way real change can happen, is when you shed your ego and let go of your fear. I finally found that perfect moment and circumstances that allowed me to release control, and began surrounding myself with the pros to take Pearly to another level. Yes, my war chest was tiny, but it paid off big time getting myself into London. I finally was able to access creative talents that could tell my story in images, videos, and my PR helped immensely to begin getting Pearly out there. Marketing and sales weren’t easy for me, it was a LOT of hustle and showing up without much results. I was writing non-stop and I had to define and redefine the brand. I was lucky I ran into great friends that literally stepped in to help (or flat out worked for me for free, Angels). It truly took a village to raise this little Pearly and brought it up to breakneck speed!
I’d never forget the day my dear FGA friend who randomly saw my name in The Jeweller UK, he called right away, and the next day gave me his copy! I totally forgot about the article as I jumped on to answer their interview questions last minute. I didn’t hear from my PR yet! They featured our Opera Teatro Aventurine and Spinel earrings, and the Let it Go 18k gold bangle (you can see in our Bespoke Portfolio). It meant the WORLD to know what I’ve been making quietly was worth a write up in a respectable TRADE magazine! A bit later, I got this wonderful article on this Crown Jewel Ring on Jewellery Focus Magazine, front n center on the Content page - a dream! The great big 100 carat Amethyst cocktail ring became my signature, and quite an editorial darling with its photogenic mega size. I was surprised to see it styled up so cool and edgy in designer magazines, which expanded my vision as well to embraced by the hip and cool too for “serious” jewelry.
The bottom line is quality is easy to recognize, and exquisites fine natural gemstones will ALWAYS win people’s hearts. It’s built in! From that point forward I went on to create bold, sexy, large and in charge, and unapologetic stylised pieces in all scales. That arching style still rings true today in my Bespoke designs work.
Let’s just say you gotta be totally addicted to what you do to be an entrepreneur (and slightly nuts). I knew nothing about the world outside of a designer’s desk! I went in for the love of creativity, the quest to create the best, my passion in gems and jewelry, and an undying believe to get to my truth in life. I was searching for pretty much ANY way that allowed me to get my work out. I was hungry, nimble, eager, and desperate to prove my life-altering decision was a great move. My parents backed me, and I switched into full-time Pearly when it got serious. I kicked into gear, and I was determined to make it happen.
Early 2010s was all about seeking, soul searching, and trying to learn how to make the business work. I was painfully green, naive, and overwhelmed. A shoestring budget forced me to wear every hat. It was by the generosity of friends I got some advice and actual help, so I pushed on a little each day. I sold to friends, consigned, did holiday sales, invited everyone to see my work, and took the random bespoke jobs. I worked like I was on fire! I even went back to NY to do a party; I peddled, hustled... got nada, zip....
In 2008 I reconnected with a friend and she invited me to London. Years later life brought me back regularly and I started to build a life in London. Luck would have it, I stayed at another friend’s place much longer in 2012. I had the time to learn and explore. I studied the market, cold called, showed up, and London opened its arms and began to embrace me. I was suddenly having a great time and started to see where I was heading! I began a double life of manufacturing in Asia, then selling and promoting in London... and no, I still have never been to the Tower of London. I was working!
2nd year in, I found a humble little office in Central near Sheung Wan, and I began to receive bespoke appointments. This little studio has served as a place of design, a buyer showroom (when I had a collection), and an occasional party pad! An unassuming office meant low overheads, and that has been critical to surviving the multiple lows tides that hit over a decade. I was also able to compete on prices especially when we had high-end limited edition products to wholesale. Pearly is a one-woman show, and it’s been a lean mean smart machine!
Bespoke fine jewelry work rolled in soon after we had a home, with a friend’s referral of a lovely Swiss HK couple, I created my first pair of bespoke wedding rings in HK. This design went on to be our calling card, and was recreated again years later with a redesign. The concept is when you put the 2 rings together, they create a perfect circle, so no 2 sets would fit the same. It was a great start that finally solidifies what I was doing for years. Plus I was the midst of studying Jewelry Design at GIA at the time. It was a great decision to return to school to learn how to properly design fine jewelry since I only had trained in silversmithing. I learned how stones were set, all the basics and the art of creating intricate pieces. The class laid the strong foundation of what I ended up honing in and fully focused on now.
It’s really amazing how this little unassuming studio has become my second home. The same couple returned recently to have their rings refurbished. It was wonderful to see the rings came back, and them having 2 kids. The rings I’ve named Complete Circle, I guess that’s what Oprah would call a full circle moment.
A heartfelt thank you for your well wishes, we are thrilled to turn 12! I’m happy to report the concept of dialing back to basics and retooling luxury have worked! Pearly is now a niche gem business that’s firmly planted on the ground. We have evolved into a variable and respectable high quality colored gems and jewelry business, amongst the very top tier of the trade, working mostly mine to market. Running this company has given me a reason of being, a source of continuous learning, and a way of sustaining a living. Thank you for your love and continuous support, for believing in me, trusting me and my opinion, honoring me with your special gem hunts and bespoke projects of generations. I pray now Pearly begins to thrive and reach the next level. May there be many more wonderful dreams that come true in life, plenty of gorgeous gems and bespokes pieces we’ll create for you and your loved ones.
I want to take this moment to tell you more about us, our history, who we are, and what we do. I want to share some insights on our brand, how our work evolved over the years, and I’ll do this in a 9 part extravaganza covering 2007-19. Here's the big 2 questions we always get asked...
WHO’S PEARLY? : Yes, Pearl is my birth name! As an old Chinese saying goes for precious daughters, “Pearl in the palm”. Thanks mom. Yes, we sell pearls from South Sea and Tahiti, but it isn’t all we do. I’m a GIA Graduate Gemologist and a colored stone specialist. Pearly is what my friends call me, and I want to be “your friend in the business”. I have my nickname on the door as I wanted it to be personal, with the trust and confidence you’d have of being “looked after” by someone you know. Pearly is about amazing top gems of all kinds, bespoke fine jewelry, and fab couture pieces. It’s a private luxury that’s meant to last for a lifetime and more. Carefully made by great artisans, Pearly is about quality, service, longevity, respect of the craft, creating natural gemstone fine jewelry with pride and soul, and opening a world of custom jewelry to all who seeks. Pearly is about absolutely the best, to love, to be worn, to enjoy, and to pass down. It’s about creating something amazingly precious.
HOW DID WE START? : Dec 2005 I moved from my beloved New York to my native Hong Kong which I left at age 12. With a fresh MA in Art Ed from NYU, after years in design, I taught BFA and Diploma part-time at HKAS, in branding and packaging. It gave me time to develop and build my accessories line - and the jewelry took off! I started with limited editions of handbags, whole CZ rings, and gemstone necklaces with Silver hardware which I have been making since age 15. I used only the best and most interesting materials, worked with top craftsmen to build tiny limited editions. Pearly from day one has been about the finest quality, custom made the right way, and creating the genuine article with spirit - all details are still watched over by me. That’s the DNA of Pearly and it still is today. It’s about the love of design, the gems, the heart, the details, and the know-how to produce excellence. As my aunt once said: “If it’s anything worth doing, it’s worth doing it well”.
You see we have to go back... way back... born in HK, age 12 in Sydney, high school in SF, and attended RISD. I was raised as an artist and began my dream career as a product designer. My first “job” at 14 was to tidy up jewelry sample at the YSL office for work experience (gosh, I raised my hand high for that one). At 15 I did my first internship at my friend’s dad Graphics firm, I did Calligraphy invitation for the SF Symphony for extra cash, and I won money and good dinners from frequently winning painting competitions. When I graduated RISD, I was the one person hired by my professor. I went to study in Milan in the summer, I won a Dansk flatware competition and got my first design contract at 21. I was basically raised to design. A few years later, I moved to NYC as a P-O-P Display designer. I designed for brands from Marc Jacobs Blush to Nine West Eyewear (which I’ll share w you here). I clocked in hard and fast, cranked out designs like a machine, or my romantic mom would imagine, Flogers commercial style. It was ruthless Jedi training, but I produced SO MUCH in such a short time. There I grew to be a prolific designer, and I learned how to create professionally and luxuriously in top speed.
Tis the era of SATC, I was in the midst of Heatherette fashion shows, Zac Posen after party, champers at art parties, and style that one can only absorb in their 20s living in THE city. I immersed myself in Bergdorf next door as if it’s my second home, yes for research often (free hall pass to Bergdorf middle of the day, yes please), but also to look, to study, and to look some more... I knew every inch of it, the P95 for all their displays, what the clients look at, looked for, and how to generate that sense of beauty and harmony.
If I must drop a pin, then that has to be when the seed of Pearly began. I had my first taste of touching, feeling, watching how brands ground, but I saw a gap… a luxury hole that I couldn’t put my finger on. I wanted to redefine luxury: What if luxury returns to what the product itself… not as brands, new for the sake of next season, not by packaging, displays or means of delivery, but the fundamental core of the object itself, being literally THE best that the world has to offer. What if price really is no object? As you become desensitized as only one living in luxury can be, through the smoke and mirrors. What would we as designers anartisansns make? And what would the consumer want IF THEY DICTATE THE TERMS?
That brew stewed in me for years following, and it remains the core of what I am... I carried it to grad school, and developed myself as an artisan. I learned silversmithing, sculpture, shoe making, bag making, even couture sewing for wedding headpieces from a former YSL couturier. I wanted to make the finest with my own two hands. I was happy to get dirty and be on the ground, much like my training in the ID department of RISD. As a hot young thing, I dreamt of an empire of products much like Kate Spade, multifaceted lifestyle, but showcasing what’s important to me and with my own expertise - from flatware, cameras, kitchenware, metal objects, to of course, jewelry. I began working with friends, friends of friends, and I brought my ideas to life with the help of artisans I met at the NY the jewelry district. I began designing right there my first pieces of bespoke and sending them out to artisans... I had them help me create my visions, my experiments, and mini versions of what I have done my whole life essentially. The was the very start of my one-woman couture business.
Here I want to share with you some of my early jewelry works during that time, my display work at RPG, sculptures and product designs, all of which formed the very DNA in me as a designer and a luxury jeweler. These early works formed the nexus of my design language, and began realizing my feverish dreams of turning my visions into a touchable reality.
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