Name: Irene Lam Fung. Age: 39. Occupation: Jewellery proprietor at the Jade Market. Career Path: I was born in Hong Kong, met my husband who is a jeweller and have been involved in the jewellery business ever since. My husband came here when he was 24 as an apprentice jeweller and I learned all about the different stones, pearls and so on, how to carve jade, tiger's eye and semi-precious stones, and also the art of being a silversmith. It is a dying craft. I also look after the shop. from him. Irene's day: I live in Tsing Yi which means a long journey to work every day. I also have two teenage children to take care of before I get to the shop each day at 9 am. I work every day of the year except for the three days leave my husband and I take over Lunar New Year. First thing I do is set up my table and then fetch the jewellery from the safe I rent here in the market. Setting up and packing up is quite a big job because carrying everything is heavy and it is also time-consuming to lay all the pearls and other items out on the table so it looks attractive. The rest of my day is taken up by customers which I really enjoy. Although business has fallen a bit in the last year there are still many people who come through the market everyday, even if they just look and don't buy. I answer many, many questions about South Sea Peals, freshwater pearls, shell pearls, jade and other items of jewellery, but I don't get irritated. I am happy to explain to customers and I also teach them what is good quality and what is fake. They seem to appreciate my honesty because I have a lot of old customers coming to me and they send their friends. I don't find it tiring doing this job every day of my life because we own the stall. I'm proud to do this part of the job while my husband looks after the export side. Maybe if I was just working here I wouldn't like being here until 6 pm every day. Ambition: To keep doing this job well and see my children get a good education. Salary: My shop sells about $90,000 worth of jewellery each month, but the profit is far less than this due to costs. I probably make only $10,000 a month. Name: Allan Jones Age: 37. Occupation: Jewellery designer/manufacturer and sole proprietor of a jewellery design company. Career Path: I actually did an Engineering Technology Diploma in the UK and although I finished it I realised at some point that I didn't like the work. Atthe end of the course I heard about a jewellery diploma and a silversmith qualification - all in all about four years work in two years. When I qualified there was not an abundance of jobs in the UK so I came out to Hong Kong to look for work. That was 16 years ago and I am still here. My first job here was designing for a high-profile jewellery designer, but I moved on to a big pearl company when pearls became popular in 1984. After working with pearls for two years I decided it was time to set up my own business. A decade later I'm lucky to have built up a reputation as a jewellery designer in Hong Kong so all my business is through word of mouth. While I do a lot of work for private customers I also provide the official workshop for the leading jewellery names in town. Allan's day: No two days are the same. My job is split into managing and supervising the six jewellery makers I have including teaching one apprentice, dealing with clients - which probably takes up about 60 per cent of my day. I also take on special jobs myself although I usually do this in the evenings when I can concentrate without being interrupted. Most of my clients are women although I do see a few men buying jewellery for their wives. I seldom see a man having something designed for himself. Women on the other hand buy for themselves and for their husbands. It's quite common for women to have large budgets for jewellery but have no idea what they want. This is where I'm able to sketch a picture for them and come up with ideas. I get to set more three and four-karat diamonds than I would in many other parts of the world. Everything I sell is custom-made so if they want rings with bells on then they will get them. I get involved with the actual hands-on work at the bench when I am particularly interested in a job or when it is tricky, but there is plenty of repetitious work, like fixing chains, that I don't touch because it bores me to death. If I had more time I'd like to do more creative work and develop my own ideas. One idea I've seen through is my First Emperor Chess Set. It took me two and a half years to make the first one using three kilograms of silver. So far I've sold 23. At the moment I am also enjoying making a range of sporty jewellery like solid silver cufflinks shaped like golf balls. Although I work 12 hours a day, six days a week, I'd say I am happy doing what I do. It's great having my own business and I'm very satisfied designing and making jewellery - it's really engineering on a miniature scale. Ambition: To take more time off to improve my golf. Salary: No idea, but it can be quite lucrative.