A beautiful life
For award-winning jewellery designer Carolyn Kan, there’s no such thing as impossible, writes Alan Teh Leam Seng
“BURGLAR Ants. Can you see three of them stealing the red gemstone?” asks multiple award-winning jewellery designer Carolyn Kan as I stare intently through the magnifying glass and marvel at her intricate workmanship. The insects, set in silver, are so well made that even their facial expressions are different from each other. “I created this Burglar Ants ring to tell a fun and playful story, which reflects upon society’s materialistic nature. Over here in ingapore, people often joke that a man eeds the famous Five Cs before he can successfully woo the girl he loves — condominium, cash, car, credit card and carbon. The last one refers to the tetrahedral structure of carbon that forms diamonds,” says Kan, chuckling good naturedly when asked why her ants covet gems over the proverbial sugar.
As I take in the overall piece, it becomes clear why Kan’s jewellery creations enjoy a huge following both locally in Singapore, as well as abroad.
Like her loyal customers, I find myself drawn to her bright and playful messages that she conveys through her artwork. They tell of the simple things in life that we often overlook or take forgranted.
Impatient to learn more about her quirky style and uncanny ability to translate everyday things into wearable jewellery, I follow Kan to a comfortable corner of Keepers, a local design collective initiated by Kan several years back, for a chat.
EARLY DAYS
“It all began when I took a year-long sabbatical from my high-octane job as managing director of a top advertising agency sometime in 2008. I was 36 at that time and was trying to discover my true potential and calling. I would have continued with advertising had it not been for that life changing gap year,” confides Kan.
During the hiatus, she hosted dinners for a secret supper club that she had co-founded with friends a few years earlier and also dabbled in boutique champagnes. The latter inevitably brought her to France, where she took the opportunity to visit nearby Italy and Britain.
During a brief stopover in the historic Italian city of Florence, Kan met a silversmith and was so intrigued by the creations that she decided to stay back for a month-long apprenticeship.
“Looking at my first jewellery item, a silver ring, made at the workshop, I instantly knew that my search was over. The desire to be a designer silversmith kicked in. It seemed like the most natural thing to do then,” quips Kan gleefully.
Once home in Singapore, Kan enrolled herself in a two-year part-time jewellery design programme at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). Thanks to her burning passion and never-give-up attitude, she quickly built on the basic concepts learnt in Florence. Her confidence grew in tandem as well.
By July 2009, Kan was confident enough to invest S$200,000 (about RM600,000) of her own savings into a jewellery label named after herself.
According to her, the Carrie K jewellery line slowly but surely came into existence on her Opera Estate house kitchen table. Describing her work during those formative years as “challenging yet fulfilling”, Kan pushed herself even harder when she found out about a competition organised by Elle Singapore in 2010.
“I simply couldn’t believe my ears when the call came telling me that I won the coveted Jewellery Designer of the Year award. The phenomenal news also brought relief as all my hard work and self-belief had finally paid off,” confides Kan, eyes twinkling.
In order to sustain the momentum, Kan called on her years of experience in the advertising industry and began marketing herself to magazine editors by sending them images of her latest creations.
Her pieces began appearing in international magazines such as Vogue Italia and Harper’s Bazaar Australia. In addition, Kan also attended trade shows held during Paris Fashion Week, Seoul Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week.
It was during one of her visits to the Paris Fashion Week that Kan realised how little people knew about designers in Singapore.
“Practically everyone I spoke to viewed Singapore as a financial centre and nothing more. That was opportunity for me to give back to society. I’ve always been grateful to those who helped me put Carrie K on a firm footing,” adds Kan, explaining the birth of Keepers back in 2011.
DREAM COME TRUE
“Keepers kicked off as a quarterly pop-up gathering of designers, artisans and artists to showcase their home-grown design products. The people I hosted back then were really diverse. One gathering had booths featuring a milliner, a patissier and