In conversation with Richard Wu

Adorn Insight: You have a diverse creative background which includes award-winning jade carving skills and learning jewellery-making with master craftspeople in Italy – how have these experiences shaped your practice?

Richard Wu: They play an important role. In my experience, the more techniques I acknowledge, the more it will open design possibilities. Such as, you can know which material is suitable for the shape you want to accomplish and how thin or how much weight it can take. The Cloud Ring, for example, wouldn’t be possible without experience in jade carving and goldsmithing. It is a combination of stones shaped under 2mm thick and hollowed inside, which also has to take pressure for the gold tube to go through. It failed multiple times, but because of the experience I have, I knew it was possible, and that is what pushes me to continue trying.

L-R: Cloud Ring; Triple Ring

AI: On your website you talk of "a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". When we spoke in Las Vegas you told me that your Tear Beauty Apart piece was a reaction to the perfect butterflies we usually see in luxury jewellery. What attracts you to imperfection, impermanence, and incompleteness?


RW: I think this has something to do with my childhood. Before the age of nine, I spent nearly half of my life in the hospital, and during my teenage years I witnessed my parents having affairs, fighting, divorcing, and we moved multiple times in the US and finally went to China with my Mom. It made me understand that nothing can be perfect, we are not machines that can program everything and make sure things go to plan. All the normal things you take for granted may just disappear.

So value the present because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Learn to accept, that not one leaf is perfect, and not one human has the perfect personality, but on the other hand, we can still be touched by it. Even criminals may show their bright side. So I came up with the idea that everything’s perfect as the way it is; we just have to have the heart to see it.

Tear Beauty Apart Brooch

AI: And, how do you evoke these qualities in your work?

RW: The butterfly brooch is one example. I have also made pieces using weathered leaves and flowers after blossom as elements to show that decay is also beautiful. For my Flying Orchid piece I inserted gold strings into the flower to express the feeling of wanting to fly away but being captured and trapped in the current situation.

AI: You describe your aesthetic as: “Interpreting a brand new contemporary Oriental aesthetic jewellery”. Please tell us more about this.

RW: I’m not sure if it’s from the influence of family culture, the books I’ve read, or the society that surrounded me, but I always loved oriental philosophy, paintings, poems, literature, etc... So, I think it played an important role in my life, and my creations too.
But I don’t want to stop there. I’m also very sensitive to what is happening around me. Fast development has changed so many lives here and brings a lot of challenges for people. Feelings of anxiety, hope, confusion, confidence, ambition, and fear combine. I sense all these emotions, absorb them, and try to make them into pieces of work that can reflect to current era. That’s the reason it is called contemporary Oriental aesthetic jewellery.


AI: Meeting you in America, and looking at your Instagram accounts, I am impressed by the range of materials you explore in your work, and the combination of hand crafts and technology used to achieve a unique outcome. What is it about different materials, and blending craft with tech, that attracts you? What are the challenges and rewards of this approach?


RW: Well, I used to have several jobs, and this gave me the idea that I don’t want to be bored; boredom makes me feel depressed. I want to have something to do until the day I pass, so I find that jewellery is the perfect form to test all kinds of materials and shapes because it’s not so sensitive to cost, doesn’t need a function, and is small in size.
In this way it is the perfect object to try out all kinds of techniques and skills and there’s never an end to it. I can always challenge myself, face failures, experience success, and try and fail again.

L-R: Orchid Ring; Withered Leaf Brooch

AI: You recently made your debut at Couture in Las Vegas. How was this experience for you? 


RW: Couture is a great show. We’ve been preparing for this exhibition since 2022 and we were very excited about it, but we also knew not to expect too much as it was our first year. But the result is much more than we anticipated. We made some contacts and are planning some interesting things in the upcoming year. We also learned how the US market normally works and what their appetites are.

AI: What advice would you give to a young jeweller looking to develop a luxury jewellery brand today?

RW: I think passion is the most important thing for a designer. The business model can tell you to do this or do that, but without a design that can move you how are you supposed to touch clients' feelings?
The other thing is a good designer must recognise all the basic skills. They don’t need to master them all, but at least they should know how stones are set, how goldsmiths work, etc…


AI: What does jewellery mean to you? Why is it important?

RW: When people started decorating themselves with objects many thousands of years ago they would use animal teeth or unique rocks and string them onto necklaces. I think at that time they wanted to express their feelings, or showcase their hunting skills, or simply enjoy the beautiful stones they found.
It’s the same for me. I think a piece of jewellery is a piece of wearable art that shows who I am at the moment. I believe that a good piece should match what one wants to express. Also, when people see it, they will get your expression or attitude, too.
Continuing to create jewelry is very important to me. It’s a vehicle for me to extract my feelings and convert them into something tangible. It’s like a medicine that cures my emotions and helps me conquer the tough times of my life.

Black Veil 

AI: Who would be your dream jewellery client and what would you create for them?

RW: People who have courage, judgement, aesthetics, and a love of art. People who have been touched by our pieces. I offer wearers not just elegance but a profound connection to deeper truths. Each piece embodies an exploration of life and death, the complex relationships between individuals, and society in a contemporary context.

Instagram: @richard_wu_jewelry