Guest article by Pui In Catherine Siu
Founder & Jewellery Artisan, PICS Fine Jewellery
When I first began learning traditional jewellery making, many people told me I was wasting my time.
“Handmaking jewellery is a dying art,” they said.
I never believed that.
As technology transformed the industry through digital design and efficient production, I found myself asking a different question:
What is the true purpose of jewellery?
For centuries, jewellery has celebrated beauty, love and status. But I wondered whether it could become something more—an art form that communicates ideas and challenges the way we see the world.
This belief became the foundation of PICS Fine Jewellery.
PICS was founded by me, but it has never been about me. Like a puzzle, each of us holds only one piece. Only together can the full picture emerge.
At its core, PICS is guided by a simple conviction: true beauty is seen not only with the eyes, but with wisdom.
As a jewellery artisan and gemologist, I believe every creation exists with a purpose. If we can appreciate what makes every gemstone unique, perhaps we can also appreciate what makes every person unique.
Every PICS creation begins with an idea. That idea eventually became As One; We Craft—where curiosity comes first, and meaning reveals itself through participation.
As One; We Craft
Every year, As One; We Craft begins with a single piece of 18-karat gold.
No sketches. No predetermined design. No fixed outcome. Only an invitation—for people from different backgrounds and perspectives to create something no individual would achieve alone.
The project was born from a simple belief: that true beauty lies in diversity, and flourishes when we respect and embrace one another’s thoughts and perspectives.
Participants take part in traditional jewellery making, each leaving decisions for the next person to inherit and transform. Every gesture leaves a trace. The work evolves not through a single vision, but through many perspectives existing together within the same form.
More Than Jewellery Making
Although participants experience traditional jewellery-making techniques, As One; We Craft is not about learning jewellery making. It explores what happens when creation becomes collective.
Each participant imagines a different future for the piece. Yet every new contribution reshapes that vision. What one person considers beautiful and complete, another sees as a beginning waiting to be transformed. Rather than resisting these differences, participants are invited to build upon what already exists instead of replacing it.
By relinquishing control, the work becomes something no single person could have imagined alone. The work demonstrates that our differences do not weaken creation—they make it possible.
A Living Metaphor
Across the first three editions of As One; We Craft, more than one hundred participants transformed three pieces of 18-karat gold into seven finished works of jewellery.
Yet the jewellery is only part of the artwork. It carries conversations, acts of trust, moments of uncertainty, and many ways of seeing.
For me, the jewellery is not merely the outcome, but a physical record of how people chose to create together. The true artwork lies not only in the finished pieces, but in the relationships, conversations, and shifts in perspective that emerged throughout the journey.
Every participant leaves something of themselves within the jewellery. The finished work reminds us that the most meaningful creations are not built by protecting our own ideas, but by allowing them to grow through the ideas of others.
Shared Intentions
When I first conceived As One; We Craft, I wanted to share what I do beyond my immediate circle—reaching people I might never personally know. Without a public gallery space, I opened the work through gatherings in my studio.
Over time, participants came from many walks of life—chief executives, professionals, students and children; people from Hong Kong and diverse cultural backgrounds—each bringing their own experiences, preferences and understanding of beauty. Most arrive imagining what they hope the jewellery will become.
But the work asks something different of them: not simply to create, but to continue something already in motion. They inherit another person’s decisions, build upon them, and accept that their own contribution may one day be transformed in return.
In those moments, the work quietly asks a question beyond the workbench:
Can we appreciate how others perceive beauty—and allow it to reshape our own?
The Release of Control
While traditional jewellery-making can be challenging, what proves more difficult is learning to let go of ownership.
Early participants often feel they are shaping the work. Yet as more people contribute, the jewellery inevitably changes. No one can protect their original vision or determine the final outcome. Instead, participants discover that change does not diminish their contribution—it expands it.
In everyday life, we are often taught to defend our ideas, refine them, prove them right. Yet meaningful creation does not always begin with agreement. Sometimes it begins with the willingness to continue something we did not choose, and to find meaning not in control, but in participation.
What the Work Becomes
For me, As One; We Craft has never been about producing better jewellery. It asks whether jewellery can become a space for understanding.
Each finished piece carries the marks of many hands and many ways of seeing. It reminds us that beauty does not emerge from thinking alike, but from allowing different perspectives to coexist.
Rather than seeking agreement, the work invites us to encounter ideas without correcting them. What emerges is not harmony through similarity, but something richer—a shared creation shaped by differences that choose to exist together.
If this is what one piece of gold can inspire, imagine what kind of society we could create if we approached one another with the same willingness to listen, adapt and build together.
The Journey Continues
I have never been interested in creating jewellery for its own sake. What fascinates me is its potential to spark reflection, conversation and new ways of seeing.
Every collection begins with an idea—not a trend or a design. Sometimes that idea is expressed through an extraordinary gemstone, sometimes through a handcrafted object, and sometimes, as with As One; We Craft, through a shared experience.
The form may change, but the purpose remains the same: to explore jewellery as a language for ideas.
About the Artist
Pui In Catherine Siu is the Founder and Jewellery Artisan of PICS Fine Jewellery, a handmade fine jewellery brand established in Hong Kong in 2018.
A Graduate Gemologist (GG) and Applied Jewelry Professional (AJP) from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), Catherine believes every natural creation represents a perfect harmony between art and science. Every gemstone—like every person—possesses a unique purpose and beauty waiting to be appreciated.
Her multidisciplinary journey spans the jewellery trade, auction houses, gemology, artificial intelligence, jewellery design and traditional craftsmanship, enabling her to bridge technical precision with artistic expression. Through her work, she celebrates overlooked details, extraordinary gemstones and the individuality that makes every creation impossible to replace.
Catherine was honoured with the Hong Kong Living Influencer Award in 2021 and was named one of Ritzy’s “10 Influential Jewellery Designers” in 2022.
Today, Catherine continues to explore jewellery as an artistic medium that expresses ideas, encourages dialogue and fosters meaningful human connection.
Her ambition is to build a lifetime body of work that expands the role of jewellery as a contemporary art form, demonstrating that jewellery can carry ideas as profoundly as any other artistic medium.
An Invitation
If the ideas behind As One; We Craft resonate with you, or if you believe jewellery can become a meaningful artistic medium, I warmly invite you to visit my exhibition at Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem WORLD Hong Kong this September (CEC Hall 1, Booth 1A229).
I would be delighted to continue the conversation and explore how jewellery can become a language for ideas.
Watch the video interview by Gem Spectrum:
