Jewellery design explorer – Rita Bey Yu Lin

Behind the beautiful appearance, every piece of jewellery has its own little story. For Taiwanese designer Rita Bey Yu Lin, creation needs to carry meaning. She hopes that her jewellery is interesting enough to bring joy and colour to the wearer, with those little stories touching and connecting with their hearts.

Lin completed her BA degree in Metalwork at the Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan in 2004, and had always hoped that she could further her studies in the same field. When she was still an undergraduate, her professor always shared with Lin her life as a foreign student in the UK, which fired Lin's imagination and encouraged her to apply for an MA degree course in that country. She was fortunate enough to be accepted at the Royal College of Art in London in 2007, specialising in goldsmithing, silversmithing, metalwork and jewellery.

Her inspiration always comes from every little detail in her daily life. In the meantime, she is always thinking of new forms of design that can enable people to wear the jewellery in innovative ways. This has enhanced the vitality and interactive nature of her jewellery.

She explained, "My latest collection is inspired by a red thread bracelet, which is an amulet given to me by my mother for my safety. Although it is only a bracelet, it represents my mum's boundless love for me. In various cultures, including those in Taiwan, amulets are usually made of red thread because red symbolises luck, life and positive power. This, along with the simple and flexible qualities of the red thread, led me to use it as the key idea for all the pieces."

Unexpected ingredients

Lin's designs are filled with organic lines and forms, the inspiration for which is taken mostly from elements in nature, such as sunlight, water, plants and animals, and then transformed into ideas. For instance, the collection of "Amulet of Imperfection" was derived from flower blooms and phases of the moon. When it comes to materials, she loves to combine contrasting hard and soft materials in order to explore more possibilities, such as incorporating threads, fabrics, ribbons and rubber silicone into her jewellery. The contrasts between soft, delicate materials and metal that is cold and hard often create intriguing designs.

"The inspiration for my first piece of ribbon jewellery came from the piano piece ‘Gymnopedies 1' by French composer Erik Satie. While listening to this music I imagined soft silky ribbons flowing and lying on the body, and little silver plants growing and breathing among the ribbons like the musical notes."

She continued, "Because of the flexibility and softness of the ribbon, I hope that the wearer will choose how they want to wear this piece of jewellery. In fact, it can be worn anywhere on the body. I also did a little experiment in which I asked many people to wear this piece without telling them how to wear the jewellery. The result was very impressive because everyone wore it in his or her own way."

The second design of the ribbon collection, Lin said, took hints from Christmas presents. "Ribbon is not only used for wrapping a gift, but also becomes a gift itself inside the box. When the receiver wears the present, she can then become a packaged gift as well!" As a jewellery designer, she particularly adores toy-like designs such as those from Dutch goldsmith/jeweller Felieke van der Leest. Lin explained, "This designer, amazingly, uses yarn and crochet-needles to integrate plastic animal toys into metalwork. Her jewellery is a colourful wild world, with an excellent combination of different materials that has encouraged me to explore different possibilities."

Her views, her plans

Her major sales channels are craft fairs, galleries and online shopping sites. There are also customers in such places as Italy and Greece sending her orders via email and requesting her to send them her jewellery by regular mail. She does not want to attach her jewellery to a particular demographic target as she wishes her designs to appeal to all age groups. She adds, "The jewellery I have been working on mostly recently has a higher price tag. As there're very few jewellery galleries in Taiwan, it makes it difficult for me to sell and promote more expensive handmade jewellery. I'd like to design a cheaper series to target design shops and the online market."

Exhibiting in Taiwan and the UK is her major plan for this year. She also intends to gradually develop her jewellery business in other Asian countries, such as Japan, because of their high level of respect for sophisticated handicrafts. She agreed that various craft industries in Japan have been well preserved and developed. "However," she said, "people in Taiwan purchase jewellery mostly for investment. The less precious handmade jewellery has yet to be valued here in the same way."

Source: Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Review