By Diana S. Zimmerman
From its early beginnings some thirty years ago, in 1982, as a purveyor of premium pearls to today’s fabulous collections of luxury jewels, the Jye’s brand epitomizes quality, superior craftsmanship, innovation, and timeless beauty.
Fast forward, some ten years later, in the early 1990s, founder Jennifer Chang realized that the technological advances in the cultivation of pearls would likely lead to an oversupply. With that in mind, she shifted her company’s focus to designing and crafting luxury jewels. The result is a distinctive line that balances couture fashion with timeless appeal.
“We are very particular in our quest for quality,” Jennifer explains. “When we traded pearls, we dealt with premium goods, and began cultivating them to ensure the best quality. Similarly, when we started crafting jewels, we ventured into offshore production to give us a larger pool of skilled high-end goldsmiths.”
“Our collections use very fine GVS quality, premium-cut diamonds, and precious gems to ensure the colourful beauty of brilliant artwork,” continues Charles Ueng, Jennifer’s husband, who oversees production. “And, we only use 18K gold or 950 platinum. Our clients deserve beautiful works of art that are crafted from the very best materials—and that is what we provide.”
Diamonds make up about half of Jye’s collections, with bridal an important part of the mix. Coloured stones, including rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, make up the rest, and are normally set with diamond mountings to accent the beauty of the stones
With a team of four designers, led primarily by Jennifer, and six senior goldsmiths, each piece is the result of collective teamwork. “We routinely exchange ideas and inspirations,” she says. “And we always aspire to design around the centre stone in order to enhance its merits and provide our customers with spectacular pieces.” One example of this close collaboration resulted in the “Susie Collection,” which features a patented design of share prong earrings and premium G color and VS clarity diamonds. Unlike the traditional hoop earring where only metal can be seen from the front angle, the share prong setting shows off a unique twist in the shape, allowing a perfect view of all of the diamonds. The piece shown below is in platinum with a total diamond weight of 1.7 carats.
Responding to customer needs is another of Jye’s priorities, and creating custom jewels plays an important role in being able to do this. “We share a mission with our retail partners,” she says, “and that is to create a high-degree of customer value and responsiveness. We work very hard to ensure that our retailers are able to provide theircustomers with the ideal piece of jewellery. They deserve a luxurious piece that is as individual as they are, and crafted from the very finest quality gems.” Jennifer admits, however, that with the skyrocketing prices of gems and precious metals, along with increased labour costs, maintaining such high quality at a reasonable price is a constant challenge. Yet, because of the brand’s ability to continue to do this, she feels that their retail partners benefit since they are able to sell high-quality pieces at very competitive price points.
The company is also putting more emphasis on brand recognition. “Jye’s already has an established and highly respected name at the wholesale level,” she adds. “We are now focused on increasing our brand awareness with the end-user by strengthening and expanding our co-op campaigns, as well as expanding our advertising initiatives.”
A new website and new web-based tools to make purchasing easier and more convenient for retail partners are also in the works.
Digital images and multi-media materials will be more plentiful and easier to access and download. “We’ve always supported our retailers’ marketing campaigns, as well as their VIP and charity events, and that support will continue to grow,” she adds. “Jye’s believes strongly in giving back to the community, but we let our retail partners take the lead and the credit.”
Although the company is family-owned, Jennifer has brought in senior level executives from outside to help manage it. “All of our offshore branches are run by non-family executives, and that speaks a lot about our business philosophy,” she says.
As with everything Jye’s does, having the highest quality management team is essential. “We treasure family bonds and legacy. As a result, we’ve recruited significant numbers of second-generation individuals related to our staff members, who bring in fresh new ideas. Our future management, however, is open to any new talent, whether external or internal.”
Ethical sourcing of materials is another area Jennifer is passionate about. She believes that it is good for the jewellery industry overall, and that it will help stabilize the market in the long term. “And, it strengthens the consumer’s faith in our industry, which is so very important,” she muses.
Jye’s list of awards is also quite impressive. The brand has been a winner for five consecutive years of the JCK Jewelers’ Choice Awards, among other recognitions.
For Jennifer Chang and Charles Ueng, and each of the other individuals who make the Jye’s International brand so very special, it has—and always will be—about quality uncompromised, in all aspects of the brand.
