In 2006, the Burrell Collection in Scotland was the first museum in Europe to stage a solo exhibition devoted to a contemporary Chinese jewellery artist—a female one. Jewellery exhibitions were relatively rare then, but this was early recognition of the remarkable creativity emerging from Asia. The exhibition was dedicated to Michelle Ong, co-founder of jewellery house Carnet, whose exquisite jewels signalled not only a new movement in jewellery design, but also the arrival of a group of gifted Chinese female creators into a sphere long dominated by Parisian maisons.
Ong was the first Hong Kong-Chinese designer to fuse east and west, incorporating both influences in her jewels, translating. “It coincided with the opening of China to the west, and the creation of new wealth in Asia.”
