Unique gem-stone: Sparkling opal

As a brand jewelry designer, I have the most freedom to create my collections every year. But like any jewelry designer, sometimes I will be fascinated by some unique gem-stones, and will create a new collection out of them. One example is my New age opal collection that was inspired by a lot of faceted opals that one of my Brazilian gem-stone cutters brought to me a few years ago. "Sabina, look at these sparkling opals, do you like to create a collection out of them?" Opals are usually opaque. I was intrigued by these sparkling ones.

After negotiating a reasonable price for these stones, I start doing my designs. By the way, as a designer, I also need to put myself in the shoes of my final customers, can they afford the prices of the stones that my stone dealers ask? On the other hand, I must also make a meaningful purpose from my suppliers so that they will be glad to bring me more interesting stones in the future. Having taking account of the softness of the stones, and their rarity, I created my New Age collection, and below is one of the Opal rings that I created, set with Opal, diamonds and colored sapphires.

Green G. - New age Opal ring

Gift-giving and fine jewelry

Fine jewelries are very personal. Watches are bought by brand, jewelries are bought to reflect a person's taste and personality. Sometimes that makes it difficult to buy a piece of jewelry as a gift. And the factor of culture also comes into the picture.

In Italy, a man buys jewelries for his lover or wife. About 70% of jewelries in Italy are bought by men for women.  Why? Because Italian men believe themselves to be romantic. I should know the taste and personality of my lady! So claimed the Italian men. Perhaps it is true. Italian women do not complain!

In Japan it is different. A Japanese man may buy a ring with a big diamond for his lover or wife. And she will be happy. But for designer pieces, the Japanese lady will take time to walk around the jewelers first. She has ample time for this important task because usually she will be a full time housewife. Then when the occasion comes, such as an anniversary, she will tacitly give hint to her lover or husband, which shop and which piece she likes.

American women like to buy jewelries by themselves. If she is a working lady, she will buy her own jewelry. If she is a full time housewife, she will indicate exactly what kind of jewelry she expects to get. Her lover or husband does not need to have any guess work.

Gift-giving for mothers or grandmothers is different. It is quite similar across cultures. A son or daughter usually choose diamond or colored gem stone in classic design with good craftsmanship. It is believed that the older generation prefer something of lasting value and not too fashionable. No complaint from the Mom too. She will be most delighted to receive any gifts from her children. Always no complain, as all good Moms do!

My all time classic Prestige Rose

Design and technical skills

Today's graphic designer must have a good working skill of professional creative software like Adobe's Creative Suite. Adobe tells us that the minimum Design Standard suite consists of the following pieces of software:

1. Photoshop: A pixel-based software that can do amazing things for images but is limited by the number of pixels in the original image.  As a result, it is most appropriate for photo editing (the amateur version is Photoshop Elements, or even an iPhone can do elementary photo-editing)
2. Illustrator: A vector-based software for images.  The benefit is that the image can be enlarged without losing its resolution, for more flexible output as well as for more detail editing, like a designer can zoom in as much as he wants without losing the details.  The core tool for the graphic designer.
3. Adobe In-Design: A vector-based software with lower functionality when compared with Illustrator but has added features for creating complex book layouts as well as for making PDF presentation.

Our architecture, our fashion designer, and, of course, our jewelry designers, all have to be proficient in their respective technical skills.  And things had not been different in the past.  During the period of the  Renaissance, when it was finally fully open or legit to paint personal portraits for the common people, painters and artists had to compete among themselves to win the most lucrative clients.  With the supporting industries like pigments manufacturing still budding, to deliver what markets called a unique selling point, painters in the 14th and 15th centuries oftentimes had to prepare special colors from natural ingredients by themselves, and keeping such formula as secret as today's Coke formula.

With progress in division of labor, in today's established design studios, some specialists will only be responsible for editing photos while others will only do vector-based graphic designs.  The art director may not be proficient in any technical skills but he will certainly need to be knowledgeable about their capabilities and therefore can instruct his subordinates to venture into solving technical design problems.  Such problems that he believes able to be solved, although he may be less than technical to solve the problem himself.

In today's jewelry workshop, a special-purpose telescope for micro-setting small gem-stones is a must.  A jewelry design like me need not (and usually not) be able to do the job as good as the best craftsman, but surely we must be able to create great designs that can challenge the technical skills of our best stone-setters.  In all industries, good designs usually demand the employment of the state-of-the-art technical skills.

Telescope for micro-setting gem stones

Harmony and Design

When we designers speak of Harmony as a design principle, we usually mean a good design is expected to have all its parts fitted together aesthetically, or organically, resulting in delivering a focal point of interest in completion. Any element that does not contribute to the integrity of the whole shall be taken away. As with all endeavors involving human, it has to fit in with the taste of a discerning viewer, the reasonable man of our legal assumption. As such, the harmony principle faces the following areas of complications which unfolds itself when facing the taste of a discerning or knowledgeable human subject.

Firstly, too harmonious a design will be boring. Like music, when all the melody notes come from harmonious Major and Minor Chords, the piece will be sweet, but will become boring hearing it a few times. We need notes to generate dischord at the right time, to deliver surprise and suspense, in order to give us more lasting aesthetics. A designer job is the same as a musician, to create element of dischord to drive away the monotony of an expected comfort.

Secondly, people have changing taste within the definition of harmony, or people define harmony-in-practice differently. In the era of Kings and Queens, Prince and Princess, elaborate decorations would be considered to be harmonious designs. Beginning from the era of Bauhaus on the 1920-30s, in response to the immense possibility of mass manufacturing, people started to appreciate designs with the barest elements to define a new design. In our modern world in which the spirit of free choices runs supreme, designers have almost infinite freedom to tailor their designs to an increasing number of commercially viable niche markets.

Thirdly, the fast pace of the modern world makes people getting bored even more easily. Previously unacceptable disharmony become harmony, and designers are trying newer and newer approach to test and to extent the taste of the consumers. Music is one area where creativity runs at a wild pace. With the modern sound synthesizer, undreamed of sounds (chord, dischord or noise depending on one's taste) are being made everyday, some will forever be considered as noise, and some will be included into the main stream harmonic sound one day - becoming an acquired taste through frequent exposure!

Below is one of my Shangri-La ring, with the well-balanced centre stone set within the garden of a natural habitat of flora and funa, a mixture of chord and dischord. A lasting piece of art.

Sabina Lee - Shangri-La ring

Pattern – the mother of all designs

Everybody can make his or her own pattern using the simplest of software like a Photoshop Elements. You draw a line-shape on paper, scan it, open your Photoshop, rotate it, say 45 degree left, to make two different shapes, add color to the enclosed areas, duplicate your two colored shapes, and finally arrange them to fill out the space. Now you have created your own unique pattern.

For famous patterns, in Hong Kong, one does not need to go all the way to mention Andy Warhol’s repeating Marilyn Monroe or Campbell Soup. Calligraphy graffiti by late self-proclaimed “King of Kowloon” Mr. Tsang Tsou Cho made his famous patterns around the city for years, and the one in Tsim Sha Tsui Ferry Pier is now protected as monumental. His first major commercial recognition came when Sotheby's auctioned a board, painted by Tsang, for HK$55,000 on October 31, 2004. Pattern is for everybody.

We see patterns every day when we open our eyes in the morning, our pillow, bed sheets, our wall papers and our pajama. It is the key element in fashion design, in some product design, in our environmental decoration. Many fashion apparels are chosen just because of the more attractive pattern of their fabrics. Kids select their own snowboards and helmets by comparing different patterns. In a cosmopolitan city like Hong Kong, hoardings in construction works, in particular those of shopping arcades, are oftentimes decorated with attractive patterns, making an otherwise unsightly site looks interesting, and any inconvenience to the pedestrians made more bearable. Pattern is the mother of all designs.

Designers give us many patterns, nature gives us more. The black and gold spotted coat of a leopard makes her sexy, whereas the two black patches surrounding her eyes make the giant panda lovely. The variety of multicolored patterns of marine lives in coral reefs is a major reason behind an average citizen's effort towards their conservation, and motivated many to spend a day or two taking a short experience scuba diving course for a closer encounter with those colorful living patterns.

I love interpreting nature’s patterns in many of my jewelry designs. For example in my rose-buds ring below, I built a pattern out of a rose bud and its twig.

Sabina Lee - Rose buds ring

The soft power of the Dragon

Dragon in Chinese culture and mythology has always been said to be a symbol of power, royalty and masculinity. Or is it really so? I tried to find an answer in I-Ching (易經) when I decided to design my Dragon collection. I-Ching is the oldest and most authoritative oracle book in China. Nowadays people continue to read and marvel its wisdom, mostly not so much for its supposed Divine or mythical power, but to the fact that it contains rich elements of Chinese culture. In those day, even the most venerated Confucius spent years studying I-Ching, and elevated it to one of the Five Classics (五經) in his teachings. I-Ching has the following to say on the Dragon in its first oracle, the all solid line Qian (乾) Oracle (my translation from Chinese):

Being the budding dragon, one should stay deep under water and don't show off.

Being with a second stage strength, one shall appear at the field, and fortune will come its way through a good mentor.

Being at level three, one contributes and busily working hard; one should be careful to contribute diligently, but not making big mistakes!

Being at level four, one should be courageous enough to express one's uniqueness and ability in actions.

Being at level five, the Dragon has become a true leader in the sky, and shall meet with other Dragons there.

Being at level six, being one of the best Dragons, one will be lonely and will regret being there!

初九：潛龍，勿用。

九二：見龍在田，利見大人。

九三：君子終日乾乾，夕惕若，厲，无咎。

九四：或躍在淵，无咎。

九五：飛龍在天，利見大人。

上九：亢龍有悔。

The Oracle expressed a most important element of the Chinese culture: Impress upon others only at the right moment and with the lowest possible level of assertiveness appropriate to the situation, even for one as powerful as the Dragon. Power should be softly apply and should be in an approachable style.

Although such wisdom was created in the old Emperor-Dynasty period, it also makes some good sense, perhaps more so, in our modern liberal society, where we have to respect the feelings of our neighbors. It makes good sense to be humble, at the right moment. And it is soft power, rather than hard power. Feminine rather than masculine.

When I designed my Dragon line of jewelry, I tried to figure out a meaningful cultural sub-text of the Chinese dragon, and I concluded: A dragon is to be soft and happy! Here comes my Happy Dragon.

Sabina Lee - Happy Dragon

Lifestyle vs Culture

If Mac Donald and KFC can represent the American lifestyle, then it has successfully converted the Mainland Chinese, in particular their younger generation. And in Hong Kong, the newest American lifestyle inroad is Starbucks. A few years ago Starbucks was the IN-thing for the trendy, now it has become THE lifestyle place of Hong Kong young-at-hearts, it is always the younger generation who first takes on a new lifestyle product or concept. Now, we have Starbucks, together with its competitor Pacific Coffee, shops in University campuses, private and public hospitals, and mass-market shopping districts like Mongkok where the famous Ladies' Market is situated.

Caffè latte is the most popular drink in Starbucks, and it is always the same coffee blend, like the recipe of KFC, always the same recipe, and like the same old burger beef in a Mac Donald. Actually KFC and Mac Donald offer some variation geographically, they serve local meat, that incidentally makes KFC taste better in Mainland China than in Hong Kong, due to the fact that Mainland China has a stronger culture in raising and doing chickens. With culture, a person develops a more discerning taste (with the meaning of taste not restricted to our taste buds). On the other hand, lifestyle is a fixation, a fixation to a certain way of living, to a certain symbol, to a certain identity. It is a cola War between Coke and Pepsi. And it is a friendly contest, sometimes in a fair blind tasting situation, for a connoisseur's taste buds for a culinary culture.

If one can say Starbucks represent a coffee lifestyle, Nespresso shall represent a (branded) coffee culture. Last Saturday, Paul and I went to the Elements Shopping Arcade. We visited the Nespresso shop there. They just launched their set of new seasonal flavours: Macadamia, Hazel nut and Coconut. The shop was busy with people eagerly tasting the new flavours, selecting the one(s) that they like and replenishing some old all-time favourites. Paul and I were among the passionate crowd.

If Cartier's Love Ring represents a Lifestyle in fine jewelry, my Love Tree Ring will humbly represent a niche culture in fine jewelry. And if lifestyle represents big business and a symbol of identity, culture will represent niche business and a signature of passion.

Which one do you like? Lifestyle or culture? or Both?

Classic Nespresso Machine

The beauty of negative space in arts and design

What is negative space? Essentially it means something that is not there. It is often used in graphic designs, and in logos design in particular. Recently I came across a blog called Bored Panda (by the way, an interesting "designed" name) featuring 30 Clever Examples of Negative Space Logos. It contains some interesting logos worth checking up. Yet, the most talked about "re-designed" logo is the Steve Job Apple logo by Hong Kong design student Jonathan Mak Long (see below). Mak, second year design student doing the Job-Apple for fun, was landed with a logo design job of Coke through Coke's advertising agency Ogilvy China (full story).

Yet, the beauty of negative space doesn't lie in the above.

Negative space is the clue to learn the creative activity of drawing, and to learn it fast! We all know how to draw, kids know how to draw and love to draw. But as adults, most of us stop the creative, and enjoyable, activity of drawing. "I can't draw!", meaning, "What I draw doesn't look like what I see out there!". To make matter worse, in today's art-schools, the skill of drawing is NOT always compulsory for an art student! Fair enough, an art student is supposed to be creative, art for art's sake, and drawing, for the most part, is technical in nature. And the professors are right, which leads us to an unavoidable conclusion: artistic talent is not essential to making good drawing, or better yet: Everyone can learn how to draw!

The secret of all secrets in drawing is Draw Negative space. Simply put, to draw an object, any object, for example, a cup sitting right next to you, you have to draw the negative space, instead of the object itself. Now take a piece of paper, any paper, like an ordinary A4 paper from your copier tray. Then take a pencil (any pencil, not 2B, not charcoal, just an ordinary HB pencil). To draw the cup, forget it is a cup, forget it means anything to you, just track the outline of the cup as if you are drawing the empty space. Don't look at the cup, look at the empty space instead. Draw the empty space as if it is a solid object. Turn the corner as you trace the outline, and go on until our line meets itself (and Don't look at the cup!). After you have finished it, look at the final picture. You have drawn the negative space of the cup, and you have drawn a cup having the shape of the real cup.  And you can fill in the rest of the drawing. Why not try it now?

Job-Apple Logo

The design of Chinese Classical Gardens

The city of SuZhou 蘇州 is a must visit to any visitor who intends to stay for a few days in Shanghai. The last time I traveled to Shanghai, I did day-trips to Suzhou, strolling around its numerous Chinese Classical Gardens, mostly built from the Sung to Ming Dynasty, and the one I like most was the cozy Humble Administrator's Garden 拙政園.

The nine famous Gardens in SuZhou has been included in the World Heritage List of Unesco, and acclaimed as "masterpieces of Chinese landscape garden design in which art, nature, and ideas are integrated perfectly to create ensembles of great beauty and peaceful harmony". An interesting question is: how does a Chinese Classical Garden's design differ from other architectural structures, and in particular, how does its aesthetics differ from its western counter-parts?

The Humble Administrator's Garden had been the site of the residence of Suzhou notables since the 2nd century AD. It was built in Ming Dynasty by a Royal Inspector (御史) Mr. Wang (王献臣) who spent 16 years to build the Garden under the supervision of the famous painter and artist Mr. Man (文征明). The office of the Royal Inspectors was like today HK's ICAC (independent Commission Against Corruption), having a direct line of command from the Emperor. Apparently Wang couldn't win trust from his Emperor, and he therefore retired early to the South, bought the site, built a Garden there, and named himself the Human Administrator.

The Garden's central section is a recreation of the scenery of the Lower Yangtze. Rising from the lake are the tree covered east and West Hills, each crowned by a pavilion. The variety of plant species is spectacular, and the main reason that it is named one of the Four Great Classical Gardens 四大名園 in China. Suzhou got two out of four (the other one is Lingering Garden 留園).

The most prominent design feature of a Chinese Classical Garden is that it refuses to show you everything at one time. A visitor has to explore the interior like a maze. There are walls to block your view, with an entrance, often round, to lead you further in. From time to time there will be different shapes of openings, oftentimes with built in patterned decorative grids, that allow you to have a glimpse of what lies ahead, like a life painting hanging on the wall. The paths are winding, aiming at aiding you to view the interior, be it a pond or a pagoda, from different angles.

Just when you feel tired, there will be a resting place in the form of a pavilion (舘), with wooden grids on the windows to artistically frame your view to the outside. On the way, the path will lead to to walk closer to a pond, where there will always be the sound of running water, with fish and sometimes tortoise too, glistening on a cloudless day. Meticulously manicured plants as miniature banyans or their like will be scattering here and there. And just when you feel too constrained by its winding path, there, on the next turn, will appear a miniature high-mount, which you can climb with a few steps, sometimes there will be a pagoda on top too, and you will have a panoramic view, not of the whole garden, but of the section that you have just visited, and you can trace with your eyes your various points of perspectives.

In the west, architectures were built to impress, and sometimes to intimidate, people. And we say Wow! In Chinese Classic Gardens, we don't have a big Wow, but we have lots of little Wows, as planned by the designer of the garden as he managed the view of every step that we are going to take.

The layout plan of Humble Administrator's Garden

The concept of minimalism in jewelry design

Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts. Minimalism is any design or style in which the simplest and fewest elements are used to create the maximum effect (definition in Wikipedia).

I design some of my jewelries using the minimalist concept where all non-essential features are eliminated. And with the simplest elements behind, they have to work harder and work smarter, so that maximum effect can be felt by my customers. In everyday life, when we meet someone for the first time, we usually speak more slowly in a more articulate manner. We use simpler words and phrases. We try to express ourselves with more complete sentences. We employ less technical words or phrases belonging to our respective sub-cultures or idiosyncrasies. In short, we won't act as minimalists. In being limiting to the absolutely essentials, the power of communicability drops below a certain threshold.

Minimalist jewelry is however not the same as simple jewelry like a simple (may be very expensive) brilliant cut diamond set with four simple prongs. No extra message is being communicated by a piece of simple jewelry, except the core message "I'm wearing a diamond ring". Minimalism has to create the maximum effect, a special impact, to someone with a shared culture or at least a shared aesthetics, however simple it is being defined.

Germany has a strong culture of minimalist jewelry with strong lines, angles and curves signifying a personality in love with precision, rationality and tradition. And it goes beyond jewelry design to German stone cutting of faceted colored stones, their skills still remain world number one, but too expensive to be worked only on the most exquisite stones. Women who do not share this culture find it difficult to appreciate German minimalist jewelries.

The minimalism of my jewelries share the same aesthetics with discerning ladies who love the beauty of details, who love the softness of curves rather than the geometric precision of sharp turns and angels, and who love their passion to be expressed maximally in a most subtle way.

My minimalism is expressed in my Love Tree ring (click HERE for a previous post for details), and my minimalism is likewise expressed in the diamond ring below with four sets of signature petite double prongs, from my "Because of You" collection.

Sabina Lee - Because of You

The Pantone 2013 Spring Color Report in Jewelry

Most of my designs are about flora and fauna, and the former in particular. Flora is a word of Latin origin referring to Flora, the goddess of flowers, and I am inspired by her. Nature is abandoned with colors, be those of flora or those of gem stones. As a jewelry designer, I have to select the colors of gem stones to deliver the richness of flowers in nature. In order that my jewelries can touch the heart of my clients, they have to touch me first, in other words I have to be an expert in colors first!

Colors are usually analyzed by three parameters: its hue, its saturation and its brightness. There are infinite numbers of hue. Take the primary hue of red and yellow for example, there is whole spectrum of hues between them and they are different oranges. It is the same between any two primary hues of the six (red, yellow, green, cyan, blue and magenta). For gem-stones, saturation is an important criteria, high saturation, in easily understandable terms, is the pureness of a color, like the color of a piece of new fabric. On the other hand, lower saturation is the condition of less pure, like the color of a piece of washed-out fabric. And finally, when you add black to a color, you decrease its brightness.

In choosing the color of my gem-stones, I have to match its hue, its saturation and its brightness with my project on hand. An important consideration for jewelry design is the budget or the projected price of the piece, not always the most expensive being the best, nor that another cheapest stone that can deliver similar results will be chosen (like cheaper amethyst instead of more expensive sapphires), in particular for fine jewelry where a lady may be choosing a piece for its lasting and heritable value rather than its initial monetary outlay.

Last but not least, a jewelry designer must be sensitive to the fashion trends in color and be able to spot the more lasting yet fashionable colors for her gem-stones. Pantone just published their 2013 Spring Fashion Color Report, and JCK (the organizer of the world number one jewelry show) selected my Endless Love ring set with purple sapphires (see below) to represent their Pantone 2013 Spring Color Report in Jewelry. African Violet (Pantone 16-3520), one of the ten selected Pantone colors for next Spring's fashion.

Sabina Lee - Endless Love ring

Sculpural designs

Many years ago when I first visited the city of Barcelona in Spain, I was astonished by Antonio Gaudi's Casa Battlo. Casa means house in Spanish, and it was a building still inhabited by local residents. Gaudi didn't build the casa from scratch, he re-created it through re-building its outer facade in the early 1900s. With a face-lift, the building was transformed into a dream-like fantasy land in the heart of a middle-class residential area populated by mundane buildings. Gaudi's Casa used numerous shapely curvatures to signify an organic form, a living icon among concrete structures, and a pioneer of modern day sculptural architecture, serving the same aesthetic function among modern high-rises.

Modern sculptural buildings usually not only create an organic outlook, like the Casa did, but they would incorporate an organic element in its total design-concept, that serves an integral part of the building's functional and experiential objectives. The Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright, built in 1950s, is such an example. The exterior focal point of the museum is its signature spiral center. This center is an integral part of the personality of the museum in that it serves as the main curved exhibition wall spiraling up at the core of the museum. A visitor upon entering the museum will be standing at the bottom of the central void, inside the spiral and enjoy its magnificence from the perspective of an upward browse, right from its heart. The spiral also serves functionally as a ramp for visitors going up the floors (there are lifts too for those who do not choose to walk all the way up), and at the same time allowing them the special experience of leisurely walking up a similar ramp in most modern car parks, without fear of the impending danger of a sport car racing down (or alternatively enjoying the thrill of such imagination). In short, it is signified with different layers of meaning, in addition to its impressive organic outlook.

My Dancing Roses were designed with a modernistic sculptural concept in mind. The structural base is as much aesthetically appealing as being functional. It serves to conceal the gadgets responsible in making the roses dance. Design-wise, it is therefore more Wright than Gaudi, though it looks as colorful as the Casa!

The special meaning of my Dancing Roses was discussed in my previous post Dancing to Jazz, interested reader can click on the linkage to access the article.

Sabina Lee - Dancing Roses

Designers inter-flow

Designers by temperament are not social animals, but they are expected to communicate to their clients and be able to deliver what their clients want, be it an approval of a prototype for mass production, or a piece of bespoke design for a private customer. But it is a rare opportunity for a group of professional designers from different fields coming together to present their views to an audience and to share their experience with one another in an open forum. Last year's Hong Kong Design Week Detour 2011 organized by PMQ, I was invited to participate in such an event.

Most speakers were Hong Kong's first generation designers, and many, like me, ran their own design houses. I was the only fine jewelry designer being invited. The gentleman sitting next to me was the well-known product designer Alan Yip. Alan was famous for his sushi calculator, a rollable pocket electronic calculator Flexical, and his newest designs include popular accessories for Apple. He set up his own product design company after a short but impressive career in several international companies.

I presented my signature floral designs, with my design philosophy and some credits that most seasoned designers have the pleasure to pocket during their career. Some product categories, like my jewelry and Alan's Flexical, are meant to be lasting designs, which means they are going to be saleable for a long period of time. Some are not, like a fellow presenter, Jason Siu, a famous action figure designer running his own company, told us that he had to wait anxiously to see the response to his new baby, every season. We empathized with Jason's anxiety, but we can also appreciate, and perhaps envy, his overwhelming joy when one of his new babies shoot the roof!

We all share the same view that Hong Kong clients are becoming more and more discerning, sophisticated and cosmopolitan in outlook. On the other hand, many Hong Kong designers got initial international recognitions from overseas professional bodies or critics, which is understandable because our design industry and her supports in Hong Kong is still young. We enjoyed the day, enriched by the exchanges with our fellow designers from different fields, and the venue with Cantonese Opera set is just stunning!

Last but not least we vowed to educate the public on subjects related to arts and design, each in our own way. The launching of this blog last month, though a bit belated, was one of my humble contributions in this area.

Hong Kong Design Week: Detour 2011

Making an old tradition alive

Good pieces of jade have always been collector items for many Chinese, in particular members of the wealthy families. Jade is also considered to be a symbol of blessing, good luck, health and longevity, the names of goodies for all Chinese, and for as long as the history of their culture.

Hong Kong has been a prominent centre of jade trading for many years, centering around the district of Jordan, near the then Jordan cross-harbour Ferry terminal, where some traders, mostly Chinese, from South East Asian countries eagerly made their bids and takes using ritualized hand signals hidden by the palm of their counterparts. Today the Government run Jade Market is still a major tourist attraction, where you will probably not be able to get the best bargain nor the best pieces, but certainly some good souvenirs at the right price.

During recent years, the jade business has been booming in Mainland China because of the prospering economy there, driving up, in particular, the prices of the more expensive pieces. And with it comes the demand for jade jewelries with good designs. A few months ago, I was invited by a national banking corporation to give talks in Hangzhou on jade appreciation and jade design. Being rooted in Chinese culture and a jade lover since childhood, I got the benefit of having become an expert in appreciating the special greenish tones that Chinese value for the stone, as well as creating jewelries that respect and enhance the traditional jade culture for my customers.

Sometimes my work, like the jade pendant below, will develop from a cultural theme that touches the heart of Chinese. And in all cases, I will put the piece of jade as the focal point, with my design enhancing the value of the stone, as well as giving it a modern look grounded in rich cultural soil. The value of the materials added (precious metals, like 18K gold, and precious gem-stones, usually point-size diamonds) will also need to match the value of the jade piece itself, so as not to overshadow or undercut the value of the centre piece. Only by respecting culture, can a designer truly make an old tradition alive.

Blessings 五福臨門 by Sabina Lee

What makes a design beautiful?

"I like this new toaster", "I like this new phone" or "I like this new house". They are all beautiful, otherwise people won't say they like it. How about, on closer examination, the lever of the toaster for lowering the bread will become hot after doing a few slices. And how about the phone is too slippery to handle, or in the most extreme case, you have to crawl into the house because they did the door wrong!

Apple has surpassed traditional personal electronic companies like Sony many years ago. Some time ago I talked to some Apple fans, one thing they didn't like about their Apple adapters is that they are not interchangeable. "They sold you a new one with each new model!" Yet, they are willing to pay higher price for a Mac rather than getting a cheaper PC, and they always love their new adapter for AC power, because each looks lovely, cute, and compactly designed, with little design details that they never dream of that improve convenience just a little tiny bit. Such inconvenience they never ask Apple to take care of nor would they expect any company would care to improve in the first place. As little as an AC adapter!

Good lessons for designers of every industry.

Mac adapter

Dancing to Jazz

Modern concert hall jazz is not the same as the original jazz at noisy and busy bars and clubs in US in the post-war forties and fifties, where working class, mostly blacks, gathered for some alcohols, some fun, chit chat, food, and...music to carry the hours, after a frustrating day of hard labor. I would imagine the jazz musicians were almost half-drunk, trying to grab the attention of the audience amidst the noise and chaos created by the patrons as well as those serving the tables. "Gotta grab those folks' attention with these non-chords", which after hearing repeatedly, finally became pleasing to the ears one day, and the musicians were honored to have created a new harmonious chord!

The rhythm and chords, broken or not, were always there, half-drunk, a jazz pianist will strike a few pleasing, free-flowing notes here and there when the noise was too loud. O man, when the noise began to subside a little, our pianist would immediately catch the moment, adding more and more notes on top of the continuously running rhythmic patterns. And virtuoso as he was, his hands worked like magic, perhaps helped by his occasional substance indulgence, that substance nowadays was commonly known as recreational drugs. His audience was electrified. When he couldn't do it no more, he would pass the spotlight to the drummer who had been waiting for his turn eagerly at all times.

Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center New York was a clean version of the original jazz club. Two years ago I was there, the audience consisted of mostly jazz-loving tourists, including me and Paul. We were up close to the musicians, with seating arrangement simulating the original jazz club, the ticket came with a drink, and a chef ready to do light meals, with occasional orders. Otherwise, the place was as quiet as a concert hall. The musicians played virtuoso music, probably better than the original jazz musicians, now that they are clean, with better musicology and more time to practice. What remained the same was the basic rhythm and chords patterns, overlaid with free-flowing notes at high speed, creating passionate and more subtle music catering for a new generation of more discerning music lovers.

I created my Dancing Roses line of jewelry almost 10 years ago. I was inspired by the changing role of the modern woman, an efficient manager at home and in office, yet, can freely express her love and passion meeting her loved one. I expressed it through creating a minimalist geometric form, the always there rhythmic patterns, and inside freely moving petite roses, of single or multi-color, crying out for attention in different combinations. The same year I was the only Hong Kong jewelry designer being invited to exhibit at the prestigious Designer Hall in Baselworld, Switzerland.

I danced to Jazz.

Dancing Roses by Sabina Lee

Listen to Jason Marsalis at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York

Love tree

A few years ago I was approached by the editor of Lark Books asking me to submit a design to their new publication: 500 Wedding Rings. I was told that 500 designs would be jury selected from international submissions, and the judge would be Ms. Ursula Ilse-Neuman, the curator of Contemporary Jewelry at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York.

Modern arts are all about concepts, one delivers an unique artistic concept, rather than what we commonly called beauty, jazz rather than pop, wine rather than Pepsi. Professors at arts school do best in creating conceptual jewelries. As a commercial designer, I have to create beauty and value. I have to deliver jewelries using good gem-stones, with pleasing and lasting look (after all, a woman doesn't throw away her fine jewelries after the season!), and last but not least, a piece has to be finished with superb craftsmanship. Good enough as heritage of value.

I didn't want to create a piece of conceptual art just to be included in the publication. As such I had a formidable task: my creation has to to meet the high standard of contemporary art (otherwise it would not be selected), and yet, it must also look lovingly good to the lady next door (otherwise it could not be sold).

For this project, I got my inspiration from a romantic line of a famous Chinese poem written in the Tang Dynasty by Ba Juyi, his Song of Everlasting Regret (白居易：長恨歌):

That we wished to fly in Heaven, two birds with the wings of one; and to grow together on Earth, branches of two trees as one.

在天願作比翼鳥,
在地願為連理枝。

I created an intertwining knot-like structure in 18K white gold set with VS quality white diamonds with matching black diamonds. Half of the white gold I plated into black. Woman and man, Yin and Yang. I called it Love Tree, and in Chinese, 連理枝.

Love Tree by Sabina Lee

Listen to Takako Nishizaki playing Violin concerto Butterfly Lovers (Finale: Butterfly transformation)

Chance encounter

"I was late for my flight again, not an organized person I was then, my chores, business and personal, had always been more last minute than I had wished for.  That was the me of three years ago.  Almost like splashing on my Bobbie Brown lipstick, grabbed my Dior bag, rushed towards the hotel main entrance, a cab's door was already opened (the Japanese are marvelous people!).  It was on an escalator at Narita that I met him.  Me going up, he going down in parallel.  My heart nearly popped out, it had been four years after University that we saw each other last, not terribly good friends then, but nice impression, an excellent amateur cellist then and an IT man by profession now, I mean today.  I didn't know how I could possibility take out my business card in such split second, I did, and I quickly slipped it onto his palm, nice and warm, his mouth was wide opened, and I smiled.  We married a year later."

I was told this story and was touched.  It inspired me to create a bespoke diamond necklace for a lady customer of mine.  This stunning piece was set with two 2-carat diamonds both of GIA certified VVS clarity in G color as the focal point, completed with a generous use of medium ovals and smaller rounds.  The complete project was done in-house, including sourcing the diamonds.  A chance encounter can be very precious, in every sense of the word! 

Encounter by Sabina Lee

Listen to I believe, Yamaguchi Yuko (English and Japanese lyrics)