Chinese jeweler set to capture country's soul at London Fashion Week

By Cecily Liu (chinadaily.com.cn) Updated: 2016-02-20 10:09

'An Autumn Breeze' necklace, by HMR Jewellery, made from 18k gold and diamond

Traces of the cross-medium creation process are visible. One necklace which exhibits two phoenixes resting on top of clouds have behind their tails a thread of oval shaped precious stones to represent the clouds. Clouds are commonly drawn on paper in Chinese painting as irregular ovals to give them a dreamy ephemeral feeling, and this treatment is transferred to the jewelry design.

Another key piece is a ring inspired by a famous poem written by Chinese Tang period poet Li Bai. The poem described his feeling of almost being able to reach to the stars with his hand while standing inside a tall building, and the ring crafted out a few pagoda shaped houses, a high mountain and a small figure on top of the mountain.

Zheng says she hopes the art jewelry would build a bridge between China and the West through their beauty. The HMR exhibition was viewed by Chinese ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming and his wife, as well as representatives from the department store Harrods and London's fashion design college, Central Saint Martins.

The same exhibition was shown in Beijing in November for the first time, and HMR hopes to take it to Shanghai and Milan.

The show pieces are expensive, with prices up to millions of renminbi. HMR is also reusing individual elements of the show pieces, such as a stone or a design, to create more affordable and smaller jewelry pieces for a wider target audience, with prices ranging from a few thousand renminbi to tens of thousands of renminbi.

Those pieces are already on sale through HMR's partnership outlets, such as private membership clubs. Zheng says she will make the jewelry available to international markets like London in the future, and defines the brand's customers as those who "love art, love life, love beauty and have a willingness to invest in jewelry pieces which will not fall in value."

Zheng, who grew up in Guangzhou, was greatly influenced by his father, who is a collector of paintings, porcelain, antiques and other art works. She previously worked in the telecommunications industry, but her passion for art led her to create HMR.

"I believe that beauty is a common bond between the East and West, and I hope our jewelry can facilitate this cross-cultural understanding. I hope that in five years' time our brand will be recognized and treasured by art and fashion lovers globally," Zheng says.

To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com

Editor: Chris Peterson