A ring that looks like frozen coral. Necklaces that feel more like artefacts from a forgotten civilisation than accessories. Earrings that seem lifted straight from the pages of a mythical fairy tale. Welcome to the next wave of jewellery designers.
These young avant-garde jewellers are utilising modern approaches like 3D printing and flameworked glass in a craft steeped in history. Jewellery has long played a role not just in accessorising but in expressing faith, love, superstition, and ritual. Lockets and charms are passed down through generations, becoming family heirlooms and storytellers of lives and relationships. But today, new methods and approaches are pushing jewellery into bold and unexpected territories.
L’ABBEYE spoke with five of the designers shaping this future.
886 Lab
Created by Tszkwan Yeung, 886 Lab explores sustainability through biodegradable, plant-based resins derived from soybean and corn oils. “When I discovered 3D printing with plant-based resin, I felt the same fascination I once had for natural gems and crystals,” Yeung says. “These printed forms feel like modern gems or raw stones, with their raw surfaces and unique structures shaped by chemistry. Each one is unpredictable, each one carrying its own energy.”
Yeung’s sci-fi-esque necklaces, rings, and hairpieces flow with a liquid magic. She describes her style as “ancient futurism,” blending historic silhouettes with futuristic curves and materials. The unpredictability of the resin keeps her inspired: “Even when I feel tired, the moment I see the material and the way light flows through it, I rediscover the excitement of creating.”
Her favourite piece, PIN, takes the form of a cross. “I imagined it as a compass pointer—something that orients and guides.”
Harlot Hands
While Yeung reinvents gems, Jing Feng of Harlot Hands channels mythology and baroque grandeur. Already stocked by Ssense, the label is carving a strong presence in the jewellery landscape.
“Mythology, femininity, and ideas of the sacred are key influences,” Feng explains. Her silver hearts and ribbons shimmer with baroque theatricality but carry an artefact-like sturdiness through organic textures. Self-taught, Feng began with soft solder before advancing into silver and wax. Sometimes she sketches her designs, other times she lets intuition guide her hands.
“I want wearers to feel like they could be in a play or a fairytale,” she says. “Jewellery can hold the feeling of an entire outfit in one piece—it’s a world we carry on the body.”
Pia Glassworks
Maria Pia Gordo, founder of Pia Glassworks, has chosen glass as her medium. “It allows me to shape and play in ways that feel almost malleable,” she explains. Drawing references from nature, mythology, and historical jewellery, Gordo has developed her own approach through flameworking and blown glass.
In 2024, her pieces appeared in Di Petsa’s The Body as Prayer AW24 collection. “It’s never just about design,” she says. “There’s always a deep layer of technical work because glass demands it.”
Her creations range from clear devil horns to ornate floral rings. Her favourite works form part of Silent Guardians of Hidden Secrets, one-of-a-kind necklaces exploring the limits of glass techniques.
Furuilin Jewellery
Ruilin Fu grounds her work in nature. Her Snail Collection translates the fluid forms of snails into resin rings that coil gently around the fingers. “Every natural form carries its own emotional charge, soul, and unique presence,” Fu says.
Her pieces are fluid, organic, and emotionally resonant. Some are born from instinct, others from sketches linked to specific stories. She describes her jewellery as “an inner connection that binds emotion, form, and the wearer… Some designs embody ritual and formal beauty, giving them an almost ceremonial presence.”
WHYNOEN
Dinara Garaeva’s brand WHYNOEN blends art, technology, and self-expression. Her sculptural pieces are born from hand sketches, then translated into 3D software before being refined through multiple test prints. “I examine how each concept looks and feels, making adjustments over several iterations to ensure comfort and beauty.”
Nature is a constant source of inspiration, but so is sentiment. “I was fascinated by how a small accessory could tell a story or spark a feeling,” she says. Her favourite creation is the Transparent Coral Ring: a massive 130 mm-long piece resembling coral frozen inside a glacier. “It plays with expectations—bold, otherworldly, like wearing a shard of frozen ocean.”
These young designers are not simply pushing jewellery forward; they are creating a dialogue between ancient ritual and futuristic technology. Jing Feng and Maria Pia Gordo reference mythology and fairytales through baroque metals and glass forms. Tszkwan Yeung demonstrates that sustainability and avant-garde aesthetics can coexist.
Together, they represent a new frontier of jewellery, one where stories are not only told through the finished object but through the radical ways in which it is brought to life.
Credits:
Written by Phoebe