AsiaStore Interview: Kai-Yin Lo
A designer of style and innovation, Kai-Yin Lo is recognized as a pioneer for bringing a contemporary and easy-to-wear style to traditional Chinese jewelry and for elevating semi-precious stones into a mainstay in jewelry design. According to Suzy Menkes, the influential fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune, Kai-Yin bridged the divide between precious and fashion jewelry, and introduced the range to a wider audience.
Kai-Yin Lo was honored by the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, in the groundbreaking exhibition, “ The New China Chic”(Oct. 2005) Her designs have also graced a series of postage stamps released by China’s Post Office in November 2006.
Apart from being one of Hong Kong’s most successful jewelry designers, she is also a well-known historian, patron and Chinese art collector, and has written three books on Chinese art and culture. A strong interest in Chinese history led her to acquire a collection of ancient ceramics and jewelry, and it was her collections that inspired her to create her own designs with a contemporary twist.
You are known for your philosophy of balancing with imbalance. Can you explain more how this approach shapes your jewelry designs?
I balance with volume and not by matching. This conforms with the Daoist principle of Ying and Yang, light and shade, fullness and void -the last has been a major factor practised in Chinese painting - the void can speak volumes and opposing is at the same time coordinating.
Your jewelry designs grew from your interest and passion for antiques. How did you begin collecting antiques?
I studied European history at Cambridge and London Universities and I did not know that much about Chinese history till when I returned to Hong Kong from Europe, and collecting small pieces of jades and carvings in semi-precious stones was my entry. Putting these together to wear as part of my everyday life started my jewelry career and my lifelong interest in Chinese art.
You were groundbreaking as a pioneer in making semi-precious stones a mainstay in jewelry design and starting the semi-precious or bridge department in stores. Are there any new trends in jewelry that you currently see happening?
Jewelry design now merges with art pieces and materials are diverse - not necessarily precious or semi-precious. Plastic, resin, wood and metal ---all sorts of materials are used.
How has Hong Kong's culture influenced your work?
Hong Kong, an outward-looking international city with a distinctive east/west lifestyle, has shaped my vision that jewelry and, indeed, design need international flair. Being interested in Chinese arts and culture, I have retained my heritage as a foundation for modern designs for global markets.
What have been some of your biggest business challenges and what have you learned along the way?
I was in the US and international markets for 20 years - establishing myself, building a brand, pursuing a new direction in jewelry design. I did it - business, merchandising and creating. I learned a lot and this is the foundation of my knowledge on branding and knowledge on business and design. (I was lucky with the US market but it still took two years before many department store started a bridge department to house my semi-precious jewelry. Hitherto there were only 2 departments - precious jewelry with diamonds and sapphires etc was housed in the precious department and fake or costume jewelry in the costume department. Entering the Japanese market as an Asian brand-name was very trying and took 5 years). I worked and learned hard. I sold my company in 1996 just before Hong Kong reverted to China. By 2000 I wanted to enter another phase in life - to devote more time to scholarly and cultural pursuits which I did not have time for. So I confined my selling activities to private shows and left the retail market.
I understand the business side - that is why I am a champion of promoting the creative industries as propellers of economic and social development in society. I Lecture and write on this subject in international forums and as board member of the Hong Kong Design Centre and Visiting Professor of the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China's premier design academy.
You have worked on books examining the domestic realm in China, particularly the home and objects in it, and how they reveal aspects of Chinese society. Are there aspects of your own home that you feel express who you are?
My first designs stemmed from assembly diverse antique pieces into pendants and hangings, first for the home, decorating cabinets and lamps etc., then I hung them on myself and friends, then marketed these designs. I began to collect traditional Chinese furniture in the late 1980s and soon asked myself why furniture in the principal rooms in the traditional Chinese house was always placed in a certain pattern. Thus started my journey to explore the Chinese way of living, the meaning and structure of the house which is shaped by the family into a home and how the concept of home, family represents the Chinese way of living, contributing to the formation of Chinese culture and identity - hence the Chinese way of being.
Kai-Yin Lo Sale Event at AsiaStore
Tues. -Sat. November 3-7
11AM-6PM, Friday until 9pm
Personal Appearance by Kai-Yin Lo
1:00 PM-4:00 PM
Don’t miss this chance to meet internationally renowned designer Kai-Yin Lo at AsiaStore and see the largest collection of her jewelry in the U.S.!
SHOP Kai-Yin Lo's 2009 collection online: www.asiastore.org/nov3rdkaiyinloevent1.html
