How Asian designers are redefining high jewellery craft globally, from Sirivannavari to Feng J

For a long time, we have regarded Paris’s Place Vendôme as the epicentre of the high jewellery world, and there is no denying that it retains that title. Nevertheless, Asia has made its mark, having produced some remarkable creators over the past 25 years, including Michelle Ong of Carnet, Cindy Chao and Wallace Chan – all names that resonate globally. But there are others from around the region deserving of international acclaim. Among them, mainland Chinese artist Feng J is marking 10 years of crafting her innovative translucent “floating set” jewels, Simone Ng of Simone Jewels in Singapore is celebrating her 20th anniversary of creating elegant one-of-a-kind pieces, while in Thailand, Princess Sirivannavari – having established her namesake couture house in 2005 – added a high jewellery collection five years ago. In launching her Sirivannavari jewellery collection, the princess wanted to champion Thailand’s role as a global leader in jewellery craftsmanship, for it is a barely acknowledged fact that many European high jewellery brands produce both their fine jewellery and some elements of their high jewellery collections in Thailand. “This journey is deeply personal,” the princess explains. “One of my core motivations in entering high jewellery is to elevate and bring global recognition to the exceptional craftsmanship of Thai artisans, whose expertise is widely respected yet often remains behind the scenes.” Following the DNA of her fashion brand, Sirivannavari’s jewellery frequently reinterprets and gives new expression to different elements of Thai heritage. “In couture, this is seen through local silks and traditional Thai silhouettes,” she explains, while in high jewellery, “it is expressed through the delicate geometry of Thai flora, such as the lamduan flower and the Queen Sirikit rose and orchid”. These are deeply personal jewels made to honour Sirivannavari’s late grandmother. Each collection also bears signature elements like the letter “S”, representing her brand name, and the peacock, the house’s symbolic motif. Pieces feature techniques including ombré graded colouring and mystery setting – a technique pioneered by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1933. Over the past few months, she has added a fine jewellery range as well. While Sirivannavari is a relative newcomer, 2026 is a milestone year for Simone Ng. The designer is reimagining five favourite collections from the past 20 years, unfolding them as five chapters over these 12 months. Her first collection, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, was released in March, and the second will be unveiled later in May. “We are not repeating what has been done before,” Ng says, adding that each collection is imagined from a fresh perspective, “offering entirely new designs and a different interpretation of the same story”. As the name suggests, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is a poetic collection based on one of the legendary Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Said to have been built by King Nebuchadnezzar II, the terraced gardens were filled with exotic flowers and cascading waterfalls. Simone Jewels’ interpretation features delicate blossoms, willows and insects rendered with grace, whimsy and intricate detail. “The part I love most is when a story takes shape – when an idea, an emotion or a piece of history gives meaning and purpose to every detail,” Ng says. She gets goosebumps while crafting precious gemstones into something wearable, she adds. About 50 per cent of her clients are based in Singapore – most of them female C-suite executives and entrepreneurs – with 45 per cent from around the region including Hong Kong. Ng’s pieces have also been worn by Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Jenna Ortega. “What began as a one-person journey has grown into a team of 20 worldwide, evolving from purely high jewellery into ready-to-wear collections that extend the narratives of our high jewellery themes.” The journey has, she says, taken “discipline and resilience”. Shanghai-based Feng J is arguably the most internationally recognised jewellery artist to emerge from mainland China, exhibiting at major art fairs in Paris and TEFAF in Maastricht, as well as at Art021 in Shanghai last November. She donated her time and artistry to create a large dragonfly brooch sold at Sotheby’s Paris in 2023, to raise funds for the Opéra Garnier. This year, to honour her “muse” Claude Monet, she designed a graceful art nouveau-style sculpture of a dragonfly that is on display at the Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny, in Normandy, until July. The design, enhanced with chalcedony, serpentine jade and aventurine, is a poetic homage to Monet’s water lily paintings – a flower that is also deeply rooted in traditional Chinese iconography. Feng has charmed audiences through her use of double rose-cut gemstones, which give her jewellery artworks a delicate translucency. Monet’s use of colour as an impressionist artist has always fired her imagination. “Coming to Giverny felt like a loop coming full circle, 10 years after I founded Feng J,” she says. “Monet has been a constant source of inspiration – especially his work with light, colour and transparency, which are so central to my own practice.” The designer has a beautiful sense of colour: “I always knew that, if I were not a jeweller, then I would be a painter,” she says. She finds brilliant-cut stones too vivid and strong for her aesthetic and a bit limiting. Instead, her colourful double rose-cut gemstones – sliver-thin, with facets on both sides to soften the hue – are set with an overlapping technique in an uneven, rippling effect, known as “floating set”. “I haven’t discovered a cut that lets me work with light in the way I can with the double rose cut, although I am constantly experimenting,” Feng says. Most recently, that experimentation has involved the tricky technique of getting her stones to stand vertically with minimal framework, which added to the layered floating set offers a lush 3D texture to brooches, bangles and the new La Vie en Rose ring, inspired by Monet’s gardens in Giverny, with some of the stone settings shaped like cupping petals around the centre stone. It’s a skill that even the Place Vendôme jewellers would find a challenge.

How Asian designers are redefining high jewellery craft globally, from Sirivannavari to Feng J

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The region’s home-grown designers, like Singapore’s Simone Ng, are using fresh narratives, cultural heritage and technical innovation to shine

The region’s home-grown designers, like Singapore’s Simone Ng, are using fresh narratives, cultural heritage and technical innovation to shine