The Xiao Wang story

Jeweller Xiao Wang came to jewellery through her obsession with stones. “I knew a lot about stones, I knew nothing about how to put them together and what material I would like to set them in. I really knew nothing in the beginning.”

Embarking on a jewellery journey, Xiao went down a rabbit hole. “It took me about a year to take all these different classes and then once I understood the method of how to make jewellery, I was going full force to design.

“I think designing is one part, but if you don't understand the technical skills of how to make something, especially jewellery, it could become complex.  

“You have different metal and different methods and different settings. If you don't know anything about that, purely designing doesn't really work. It’s sort of like clothing. You could design clothing, but if you don't know how the fabric is going to fall or drape, it might not work for that garment, so it's not really different from learning fashion design and understanding the material and going with my imagination and creativity to put that all together into one and then designing.

“I actually designed very quickly, soon after I learned techniques because that was sort of a crucial part in my journey.”

Setting up two jewellery brands, Xiao says she’s not as involved in the making as she uses to. “In the very beginning I was more involved in the making, but I am still crucial in the production of Ice Cream Candy, for example. 

“First, I draw and then I carve the wax and then it goes to our caster. And then from the caster, it goes to our polisher. But I may polish it myself because it's fun.

"I want to be part of the process. For the Xiao Wang line, I mostly design and source the stones. Then it goes to our artisans. It's something that I work with very closely.

“But I at this point I am not making the pieces. Everything is local here. It's amazing. We have everything locally made in New York, so it's very convenient. There's really no lagging of time.”

And while the actual designing and making of jewellery is at the centre of every jeweller’s business, there is another side to it, something Xiao is very aware of.

“Business a different set of skills.

“It was a self-learning journey. I definitely wish they would teach this part in art school, because it’s half, half. It's very crucial if you don't have the half of the business part, how can you make it into a business? It can’t just be cute and art and beautiful.

“I have a couple of friends that are in different businesses. I would take advice from them, although it's not in the same business, but I think business in general has similar structures.”

Having gone through it, Xiao has some advices for anyone who wants to set up a creative business.

“First you have to decide how big it's going to be, and you have to decide if you are going to be available online, have a website… because some very high jewellery brand decide not to, which is very interesting route. In today's time, I think that's very weird and difficult, but of course, people do it. And social media comes with it. It’s a lot of getting used to, understand this is part of the business and you must do it.

“I actually learned a little bit of coding and stuff like that. It was helpful to know. Again, it's not something you have to do yourself, but you have to know at least what goes on in a photoshoot. For people that have never done this, I would always recommend you see if you have any friends or Google it, I'm sure it's on the Internet.

“Google how to make a website. I really think that Google is amazing, but also you can go to the library. Go old school and check out the library because not everything is on the Internet, interestingly enough, a lot of it is in books.

“My friends were telling me to read business, financial books and things like that. And I never thought of that for sure. You don’t think you need to read financial books, you just think, I’ll Google it.

“Sit down and think about who’s in your circle, who you might know who's in business. You can always get advice, and it might not be the jewellery business, but it's always related and they can really help you with how a structure could go or things like that.

“A lot of it is self-learning. If you're passionate about something, I'm super passionate about my business, then you just get into it, you get obsessed.

“You don’t have to do every part because it's sort of impossible, but you definitely should know every part and that way you can source the right production people, you can source the right people to help you with your website. If you can handle your Instagram yourself, great. But if you can't, source someone that you like and that understands your vibe.”

For Xiao Wang, some things came naturally. From her obsession with gemstones to her love of manga and anime that informed the style of jewellery she made. But her family also had an influence.

“My dad was in the recycled metal business for a long time, so that sort of was part of me too.

“I chose to use recycle gold because I knew it was available and it was very much acceptable. And now, in our current climate situation, it's very beneficial to our planet.

“But it was not really my first instinct, this is just what I was taught: metal is recyclable. That’s what you do every day. When it came to jewellery, I was like, it's going to be recycled gold because that's sort of normal.”

Describing her job as “coming up with solutions”, Xiao believes education should be the start of every journey. And she takes this approach with her clients too. “They’re really coming here for guidance.

“Education is important in our business because a lot of people may or may not know the difference between a white diamond or clear diamond. Then there's a whole another category of coloured diamonds and then fancy coloured diamonds and then now of course, we have man-made diamonds. It's a lot for the regular, everyday consumer, because this is not their job.  

“I think the more open we are on our side, about what stones and what settings and what kind of metal we’re using and the process, the less intimidating it is for the consumer.”