We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hsiang-Ting Yen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hsiang-Ting below.

Hi Hsiang-Ting, thanks for joining us today. Covid has brought about so many changes – has your business model changed?

Before Covid, my revenue was heavily relied on traveling for in-state and out-of-state craft shows, I was always on the road, I used to be out of town for shows almost every month, and even every other weeks during the holiday seasons.

All the shows were cancelled when Covid hit in 2020, and I had to pivot my business model from trade shows to custom focused with local clienteles, so I decided to move my home studio to downtown Raleigh in the midst of pandemic. It was scary at first, because I wasn’t sure if I can afford the rent while losing all the craft show incomes; luckily I was building my custom jewelry business before the pandemic, so the transition was smooth. I’m glad I made the right decision and the numbers from my 2021 revenue proved it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My love of jewelry started at early age. Just like every little girl, I loved to play with my mother’s jewelry. I was drawn to the fun geometric shapes and the bold colors, especially the 80’s clip resin earrings. Years later, I began to collect my own jewelry when I was in college. As a maker, I was fascinated with the idea of making my own jewelry and fortunately in 2006 I was introduced to “Beginning Metals and Jewelry” class in my junior year. As soon as I held that jeweler’s saw in my hand, I knew I had found my calling.

In 2012 I received my M.A. and M.F.A. degrees in Metals and Jewelry from Savannah College of Art and Design. During the three and half year of my graduate school training I created one of kind jewelry not only for my loved ones but also for clients that I met at the Philadelphia Museum of Art craft shows. I truly enjoy the sense of achievement that comes from knowing how much joy my jewelry brings to my clients. I became absorbed with the challenge of problem-solving and brainstorming designs and making the jewelry. I didn’t want to stop. In order to continuously share my passion with the world I founded HTY Jewelry in 2013 in Raleigh, NC.

My studio locates at Artspace in downtown Raleigh, NC. You are welcome to book an appointment with me for private shopping and custom jewelry consultation throughout the week.

The style of my work has been shifting from literal context to a more abstract and organic aesthetics, and it’s emphasizing on the relationship between the jewelry and the wearer. My jewelry is designed for confident and sophisticated women, it conveys the symphony of bold colors, organic forms, gemstones, wearability, and artistic instincts. My goal is to always trust my artistic gut when it comes to jewelry design, and I’m determined to create the most unique and timeless piece to every single of my jewelry lovers. It’s not dare, it’s a promise.

All pieces are handmade with time and care. I am determined to create the timeless jewelry that you can cherish not just for your lifetime but for generations!

HTY Jewelry is focusing on two directions:

HTY Jewelry Collection is designed for the woman who is independent and confident.

Custom Jewelry Service is for clients who are seeking more personalized, top quality jewelry.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

One thing I love about designing custom jewelry is the challenge each client brings to me with all kinds of personal stories. Sometimes this means I have to play many different roles rather than just the jeweler. I’m truly amazed and grateful to all my clients for helping me realize my undiscovered potential through their interesting jobs.

For this particular project, I was not only a jeweler but also an archaeologist and detective. A few months prior my client lost an heirloom carnelian ring and I was asked to recreate it with very limited information to begin with. All I had was an enhanced and enlarged image that only showed half of the ring. The rest was based on my clients’ memory, which can be tricky since memory can be subjective and abstract sometimes. And that is really the most challenging part of this task, I have to think like my client.

This project reminds me of a recent discovery of a tail of a feathered dinosaur found perfectly preserved in amber from Myanmar. This is the first time scientists have found dinosaur material preserved in amber. Based on the fossil tail in the amber, with the help of paleontologists and the imagination of illustrators, they recreated a sketch of this feathered dinosaur that was about the size of a sparrow and lived 99 million years ago.

Now, back to my story, with the clue I had in hand that I rebuilt the ring from the scratch including sourcing the perfect color carnelian, custom cutting the carnelians, and, of course, creating the ring itself. Fortunately, my clients were very understanding and patient, they guided me through every little step of the whole process to help me to create the ring as close to the original. They were so pleased with my services, that they decided to add one pair of custom earrings and a pendant with the same design aesthetics to make a set.

The day before the delivery, I woke up from an anxiety dream. I was quite nervous, worrying about all the things that could go wrong when they receive the jewelry. What if she just absolutely hates it? What if this is nothing close to her original ring? What if the color of the stone doesn’t look right to her in person? What if? What if?? What if !??? My worries immediately dissolved as soon as I saw my client’s big smile. And this is always the most rewarding part of my job: seeing my client’s happy, glowing face. It just means everything to me. Did I mention I slept like a baby that night?

Sadly, the story made a turn, few months later I found out on NPR that my client passed away from terminal cancer, and that gift set was his last gift that he wanted to give to his wife as their 35th wedding anniversary, he died shortly after they had the celebration.

I was in total shock and I was so honored that he trusted me to help him with his final wish and I was able to delivered it on time, it truly made me feel so proud of my job, it was such a reminder why I love my work.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

To have a well-written contract to protect my business. I always give the benefit of the doubt when I’m working with new clients, but in the early on days, I was too inexperienced and I’ve had client was just fishing but not serious about working with me. I ended up wasting so much time and energy to those clients and they just walked away with my free design to somewhere else. After getting burned a few times, I decided to hire a attorney helping me with a comprehensive custom jewelry service contract so I won’t need to go through the same negative experience again with the wrong client.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.htyjewelry.com
• Instagram: HTYJewelry
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HTYJewelry

Image Credits
Catherine Davis Photography & Hsiang-Ting Yen