People always love to make themselves life notes. For example, writers have words to remind their happy childhood, painters have pictures to reveal their naughty kids, film directors have different shots to memorize their beloved. Even ordinary people like us would also have cameras to record our daily life. During the recent Italian haute couture jewellery show – About J, Hong Kong Jewellery met Sarah Ho, a designer who has jewellery to denote each of her life chapters. In the feature, she is pleased to share with us her designing pieces carrying her precious memories.
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Macau, Ho then moved to London in the United Kingdom for studies. She was graduated at London Metropolitan University majoring in jewellery design. In fact, Ho disclosed that she originally studied fashion design and worked in the fashion industry. “I had held different positions in the fashion industry but I never felt satisfied. Gemstones and jewellery were always in my heart. Finally, I made a great change, moving to the jewellery world. To be honest, it was a big decision. But life is too short. We have to be happy every day. If you don’t enjoy your work, you won’t enjoy your life. It’s really important to make this change,” she expressed. After studying jewellery design, she established SHO Fine Jewellery in 2006. As the founder cum creative director of SHO, Ho was never hesitant about her move from the fashion industry.
After stepping into the jewellery industry, Ho has a strong conviction: every jewellery collection has a story or a memory to tell, and should be able to pass to the next generation. She described: “Writers have words to express themselves; I have jewellery to share mine.” To Sarah Ho, each jewellery collection represents an inspirational chapter in her life. Coin Collection is definitely one of the examples. When Ho grew up in Macau, her grandparents would give family members a Chinese gold coin, said to bring fortune and success, on their birthdays each year. Until now, she still follows the tradition, offering Chinese gold coins as the birthday gift to her children. Coin Collection was born to hark back this family tradition, in the meantime marked the birth of her two children. She first designed 18-karat white gold jewellery set with pink sapphires, tourmalines and diamonds to represent her daughter; then worked out another 18-karat gold jewellery set with blue and yellow sapphires and tsavorites to represent her son.
In addition, Ho introduced one of the most popular jewellery collections: Sarah Ho Couture Paradis Earrings. Inspired by the grace of the bird of paradise and elegance of the Art Deco era, the pair of earrings is made up of platinum, rose gold, white diamonds and conch pearls. She stated: “At the time I was studying fashion design, I was greatly inspired by one of the greatest fashion illustrators, George Barbier. When you see his pictures, you will find most of them are ladies from 1920s with beautiful dresses and birds’ feathers around them. It is commonly seen that bird of paradise, phoenix and peacock appeared in the background of his pictures.
Besides paying tribute to George Barbier, the jewellery also reminds my time in fashion design studies.” In the About J, she also showcased the latest addition of the Paradis collection, such as Plume Earstuds and Feather Boule Ring. Besides the first presence in About J, Ho also exhibited at Couture Las Vegas, International Jewellery London, Inhorgenta Munich, Spring Fair Birmingham and more in the past. Her jewellery is currently available in about 50 stockists in the United Kingdom. As there is a natural link to Ho’s heritage in the East, she recently launched four sales points in Macau and will soon have an expanding distribution network in Hong Kong. She stressed: “It was so thrilling that I established my own brand in London with completely my own efforts. I took SHO home since Macau and Hong Kong are two very important markets to me. They are my home and places where I grew up.”
Last, Ho expressed her future goals: “I will continually expand SHO internationally, especially to Asia. My dream is that SHO will one day become an international brand. In addition, I will keep designing different jewellery collection, representing my every life chapters. After 20 years or 30 years, I wish my life could be told by different jewellery collection.”
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