[SPEAKING CHINESE]
Unlike foreign consumers, Chinese consumers
pay a lot of attention to the value of the materials.
Many overseas independent designers
use inexpensive materials in their designs
and sell their products at pretty high prices.
Based on my experience, my clients
focus on both the material's quality and the design.
They refuse to take low-quality stones.
I think that there can be a compromise between quality
and good design to some degree, but not too much.
If the quality of the jadeite is not very good,
people usually won't buy the piece.
Foreign consumers will buy what they like to wear.
My clients are different from most consumers in China,
as they focus more on their emotions.
Traditional consumers would pay more attention
to material quality and value, so I'm
lucky to have clients who tend to buy unique stuff.
I try to create products that can attract these clients
and help me express my ideas.
I sell my products in three price ranges, high-end,
moderate, and commercial.
High-end and moderate goods are quite expensive and suited
for older consumers, so I design those pieces
in more traditional ways without too many fantasy elements.
For high-quality materials, I try
to keep the stone's natural state
and just add some design elements to lightly decorate
them.
When people see these products, they see the high quality first
and do not find the jewelry piece strange.
I put more imagination into the moderate price range
products I design.
Consumers of this type of goods are younger and more tolerant
of new ideas and concepts.
I like being different and doing special things.
In fact, during my six-year design career,
I've tried a lot of different things.
In my first trials of unusual designs,
I failed with several pieces.
When you try different ideas, you
have to take risks because sometimes the products turn out
to be totally different from what you planned.
When this happens, you have to make endless changes
to get back on the right track.
Doing traditional designs is safer.
This process was full of challenges
and sometimes very painful, but I did enjoy it.
When I finish a piece that is more beautiful than I thought
it would be, I'm very happy.
I like to challenge myself when I design for clients in my age
group and promote my brand at a higher level.
China plays a more and more important
economic role in the world, which
can be seen in my clients' buying power.
There's an old Chinese saying, "buy gold when society is not
stable, and buy jade when it is prosperous."
The reason the jade market is so hot in China
is that the country is experiencing an economic boom.
People have started collecting again.
A good economy stimulates not only the domestic consumer
market, but also the overseas market.
I have an interested client who wants
me to design some pieces to take abroad to promote my brand
and jadeite culture in general.
In fact, many foreigners know nothing about jadeite,
but my clients are ambitious and want
to introduce jadeite to Westerners.
The Chinese people have a tradition
of wearing jade that goes back thousands of years,
and we understand it.
Similarly, gems have been widely used for Western royal families
throughout history, and they have a good understanding
of gemstones.
So jade is important in the development of Chinese society,
and civilians as well as royal families
are aware of its superiority.
It's our responsibility to spread the jade culture
to the rest of the world and design better pieces
to show its charms.