Meet Yajing (Jacqueline) Yao | Jewelry Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yajing (Jacqueline) Yao and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yajing (Jacqueline), what’s the end goal, career-wise?
Jacqueline Yajing Yao (China, based in the U.S.). Yao majored in Sports Training (Tennis) during her undergraduate years. Due to her passion for art jewelry, Yao is currently pursuing an M.F.A in Jewelry at Savannah College of Art and Design. She is the winner of the Gold Prize in the 14th Annual IDA Design Awards.

Her goal is to create long-lasting jewelry and accessories that aren’t just roughly beautiful but also have a soul passed on from generation to generation. Drawing inspiration from music subculture, philosophy, and art, Yao continuously seeks the perfect balance between meaning, beauty, and function while cherishing the heritage of making things by hand in the best possible way. Jewelry expresses a possibility that few observers have ever noticed: Its ability to touch people. She uses a simple way to express complex thoughts, and she believes handmade can build a special relationship with jeweler and wearer.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Everyone has their own world – a space where they become themselves. It is both spiritual and precious. While some may open their world to share themselves, others are more protective. My works take inspiration from this space of separation. A place where relaxation and breath can lead to deeper connection with self. Space is a conceptual word. It’s an open concept that is interpreted in a variety of meanings. Here, I also would like to leave this wide space to everyone; to experience the relaxation, the breath… anything that can be connected and imagined.

My work is about space, mental space, headspace, and comfortable emotional space. It is a space to focus and allow reflection. What’s the pattern on the piece? There’s a path, one from the very beginning. Imagine enjoying memories or entering a building – immerse yourself in your headspace. We are like time travelers. Look at the rhythm, look at the pattern, observe the sense of human scale. It’s related to us. Space creates a void where we can develop the aesthetics of our emotions. I love the words “Unexpected Pleasure.” It is a wonderful and beautiful thing to feel the unknown and experience the unpredictable pleasure, which for me is the greatest joy and hope in the small but real happiness of life. I don’t know what will happen next, but I will think about it—maybe I will be attracted by the smell of a cup of coffee at the corner of the road and then walk into the store to enjoy it the next time.

As a jeweler, I am inspired from the world and moments that I experience.
Whatever experiences I go through they create emotions in me and that is what triggers me to create jewelry pieces.
Noticing things is also a source of inspiration as I am observing the environment that surrounds me.
I use sterling silver wire and Argentium silver as my main material.

Silver wire is a very beautiful way to form expression, for me, the design process is related to how I see, what I see and translate into metal.
I mainly rely on these materials because they match all expectations.Additionally, they evoke in me a sense of soft feel and soft touch but is quite strong.
I can compare the pieces to women;
Women are perceived to be vulnerable in some regards, however, we are the strongest. We are blessed with patience, humility, and tolerance.
We have infinite possibilities.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I like to eat, drink and walk through the city’s streets with my favorite people to find delicious and unique local places. I will often come to these places, and I will take them there when friends arrive.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Soft Power Inspired by “A ribbon around a bomb” The combination of interrogation and empathy is something that’s been with me from the very beginning. I grew up in a progressive and loving family. Both my parents were extremely free-thinking.
My mother was adventurous. She gave me total freedom with an environment to express myself.
I always treated everything a kind of joyfulness, and I can feel the beauty it brings me. I would like to reward this kind of feeling.
From a kid, I was interested in how people behave differently in different spaces.
That fascinated me.

As a woman, I transmit all the power from the woman’s infinite soft power. It flows out through the heart, into the jewelry piece, and out into the world. I’m looking for a moment when we feel we’re as close to the soul as possible. When it liberates you, it allows you to do that, to help you think something compelling. Here I want to speak about the responsibility of telling people’s stories and evoking positive things. “I’m the one that freezes time. So I now know how precious every moment is. I’m trying to squeeze it so dry every second,” said Platon, a British portrait and documentary photographer.
I’m inspired by soft power, especially when I read the story about Frida Kahlo. Born in 1907, she is among the most iconic Mexican painters, famous for her intricate self-portraits that mostly depict her life story. Though she studied philosophy and medicine, she delved into the art world after getting injured and bedridden after an accident at 18 years old. Her artworks were inspired by Mexican folk artistry and ancient Columbian artifacts. She married Diego Rivera, another great artist, and they had a combative back and forth relationship, which Frida also portrayed in her paintings. André Breton, a French surrealist, writer, and poet, defined Frida Kahlo as “a ribbon around a bomb.” Her paintings are represented by boundless energy and power, showing her passion for meaning and truth, feistiness and contempt for restraint, an intimate acquaintance with suffering, and finally, poignant acknowledgment of things as they indeed are. During this time, society expected women to be timid, silent, and indifferent when expressing themselves. However, Kahlo disagreed with this notion and produced meaningful art pieces that expressed her true feelings.
Strong faith and perseverance can overcome the physical pain brought by disease and a solid spiritual world can make a hopeless life full of sunshine. A smile can melt a cold face, keep good self-cultivation day after day and influence the behavior and lifestyle of people around us. These are the powerful forces of soft power in people’s lives.

Website: https://www.jyjyjewelry.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacqueline.euvoce.studio/?hl=zh-cn / @jacqueline.euvoce.studio

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-yajing-yao

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013232915629