Most gemstones are set in precious metals at all times and in all places. Dream Mix Jewelry founder and design director Li Li breaks with tradition and launches gem-in-gem. Among her jewellery innovative creations, the Red Flame bracelet and the Twins necklace have won the first runner-up and the merit award of open group (finished product): creative arts respectively at Hong Kong Fei Cui Design Biennial Contest organised by the Hong Kong Jewellery & Jade Manufacturers Association (HKJJA).
A finance and English language graduate worked in a Hong Kong accounting firm, Li Li discovered her interest in jewellery design when attracted by the exquisite craftsmanship and fabulous design of the jewellery shown at stores. She started to pick up Equipping herself gemstone knowledge and jewellery design techniques by reading books, signing up for continuing education courses and attending gemstone forums before she founded Dream Mix Jewelry, dedicating to develop innovative mounting methods.
Gem-in-gem
Fei cui is her favourite gemstone owing to its mystery, elegance, and the interesting visual textures under lights. Feeling pity for fei cui that it has become synonymous with outdated, she sets her heart on designing fashionable and young fei cui jewellery. Her gem-in-gem inlay setting technique skillfully hides inclusions or cracks of a gemstone with other gemstones. The setting manages to keep no traces on the surface, yet it gives gemstones the scintillation. The only thing is that it is laborious. Li explained: “Every fei cui piece requires custom design according to its unique texture. It is almost impossible to make fei cui jewellery in batches.”
The Twins necklace is one of the arduous tasks to complete. Her production team carved the trunks of a life tree on the 115-carat Myanmar unheated sapphire according to its inclusions. By using the gem-in-gem inlay technique. Fei cui leaves and flying birds are set in the big stone with enamel tree roots. The fish tails both sides of the stone are paved with irregularly cut opal and white diamonds. It took the team 9,000 hours to complete the piece. Li added: “Working on exquisite fei cui is time-consuming and costly. High production cost is a huge burden for many independent designers.”
Speaking of the wellspring of inspiration, Li said the Red Flame bracelet was born at the right time. The theme came from a Chinese idiom about the vitality of flowers. I hope those who are fighting against the current virus pandemic could restore their faiths in the future and wait for the early spring of vibrancy after the cold winter.
Different fei cui shapes have different traditional meanings, such as shoutao represents longevity and green beans symbolise fertility. In a storytelling marketing era, marketing strategies have to be ever-evolving to attract new consumers. Li's integration of life refection into design has become a time evolution to connect different stories with different people. It promotes fei cui as a story teller to more jewellery aficionado and reaches more people who have yet to recovered the charm of fei cui.
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