Leading Chinese jewellery giant Chow Tai Fook (CTF) launched its inaugural curated high-jewellery collection, Timeless Harmony, earlier this year—marking a significant milestone in its formal entry and signalling its strategic expansion in the segment.
Greater China continues to be one of the world’s biggest luxury markets despite the economic slowdown. It has a respectable base of high-jewellery consumers catered to predominantly by Western brands.
While CTF has long crafted bespoke high jewellery on demand, with Timeless Harmony, the brand aims to spotlight Chinese culture and craftsmanship, demonstrating not only its evolution but also a more confident assertion of local creative identity with a global context. Leading this initiative is Nicholas Lieou, Creative Director, High Jewellery at Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, who spoke exclusively with Shilpa Dhamija from Hong Kong.
Prior to joining Chow Tai Fook, Nicholas Lieou designed for some of the world’s most respected jewellery houses and his own namesake brand. He led high jewellery and custom design at Tiffany & Co. in New York, and has collaborated with Sotheby’s Diamonds, in the past.
What prompted Chow Tai Fook to launch a high-jewellery line at this stage? What is the vision, planning, and craftsmanship behind the collection?
As a leading Chinese jewellery house with almost 96 years of history, Chow Tai Fook has long been creating high jewellery and bespoke pieces for its elite clientele. Historically, we have also collaborated with seasoned artists to design special pieces, some of which have been exhibited within China. However, Timeless Harmony is our first-ever high-jewellery collection.
We took almost four years to plan and launch our inaugural, first-of-its-kind line. During this time, we not only developed the debut collection but also planned upcoming collections to be launched over the next few years. We intend to release a high-jewellery collection each year in the lead-up to our 100th anniversary in 2029.
What market strategy do you follow to connect with modern buyers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, who are influenced by fast-changing trends?
Our high-jewellery collection is not driven by trends, unlike fine jewellery, which must map trends; where one season, it may be about gold, the next about pavé-set surfaces.
Since high jewellery is about craftsmanship, storytelling, and gemstones that take years to create, chasing trends isn’t possible. Our collections are designed to be timeless.
We’re trying to communicate a sense of modernity and a new way of living through our designs. Traditionally, high jewellery has been seen as something to be locked away in a safe and worn only on grand occasions. But to me, jewellery should be worn, lived in, and enjoyed. An expensive piece doesn’t have to sit in a safe. Of course, we still make those red-carpet pieces, but there’s something truly special about celebrating the everyday with high jewellery. For example, lunch with a dear friend is worthy of exceptional jewels. Pair a big diamond with jeans and a white T-shirt; and that’s completely acceptable today.
What kind of Chinese craftsmanship have you used in the current collection or plan to use in the upcoming high-end collections?
In our first collection, which was launched in Hangzhou, particularly the Lotus series, we used a tension setting with diamonds. While the tension setting itself isn’t new or uniquely Chinese, the way we’ve developed it, to make it flexible and aligned with the philosophy of the collection, is both innovative and distinct.
One of our key materials, and our USP, is that we also work extensively with 5D gold, with 99.99% purity and no alloys added. What makes 5D gold different is the way it’s treated: by heating it to extremely high temperatures, the gold’s molecules are compressed more tightly. This molecular change strengthens the gold, making it more durable during processing, without compromising its purity.
As you know, 24-karat gold is very soft, so stone-setting can be challenging; 5D gold makes the stone-setting process more secure.
We’re also researching various texturing techniques.
How will you set your design language apart from other high-jewellery brands wooing the Chinese consumers?
I think when Western brands use Chinese iconography, it can sometimes feel a bit forced, not through any fault of their own, but because it’s difficult to fully capture the depth of our culture correctly.
To create high-end jewellery truly inspired by Chinese culture, I believe three key elements are essential: storytelling, cultural revival, and symbolism. Take Lotus, for example. It’s not just a motif, but rather a representation of a Chinese philosophy; it’s a mindset. Translating something so intangible into jewellery is a challenge, but we have attempted it through our tension-set Lotus design.
This setting, with diamonds and a mirror finish on both the exterior and interior, demanded not only precision but almost a meditative focus from the craftsman. That level of detail and intention, I believe, is what makes Chinese-inspired jewellery not only relevant, but genuinely special.
What role do diamonds play in expressing the creative vision behind your high-end collections?
Diamonds are certainly essential, not only for their intrinsic value, and beauty, but also for how they elevate the overall high jewellery experience. We use only top-quality stones. Many of the diamonds in our collections are cut in-house at our own diamond-cutting facility, which is quite rare for a jewellery house. We often work with custom rose cuts that aren’t available in the open market. That said, diamonds are just one part of the story. We place strong emphasis on rare and precious gemstones such as Burmese or Mozambique rubies, jadeite, sapphires, and emeralds, and use diamonds to highlight and enhance those hero stones.