It's no surprise that historian and jewellery designer Lo Kai-yin would be behind a new exhibition at Sha Tin's Hong Kong Heritage Museum chronicling the changing role of jewellery in Hong Kong. As curator of Jewellery for Life, the last in a six-part series about the history of jewellery in the territory, Lo features more than 200 pieces of gems collected from an array of gem peddlers and designers. The exhibition opened last Friday afternoon. Lo explained that she picked the title Jewellery for Life because she feels these decorative accessories aren't just luxury items but a part of everyday life in Hong Kong.
'It is a statement of beauty, creativity and cultural expression,' Lo said. 'It's not to show off the value of the jewellery, but your own value.'
Featured in the exhibit aren't just the ornaments from mass chains such as Luk Fook, Chow Sang Sang and Chow Tai Fook, but also newer works by such singular designers as Dickson Yewn and Peter Baer. Many of them actually owe a debt to Lo as not only a pioneer in using semi-precious stones, but also one of the first to incorporate Chinese elements into her designs, long before Sino-chic came into style.
'It is now fashionable to inject inspiration from Chinese culture into jewellery designs, but no one would listen to me when I started putting Chinese elements into my designs in the mid-1980s. It was considered neither trendy nor interesting in the west, but I persisted. It was like a conviction.'
The exhibition continues at the Heritage Museum until February.
