In this episode, the London-based designer talks us through her latest collection, which explores the genesis of ornamentation.

 Welcome to the Jewelry Connoisseur Podcast, and now your host Sonia Esther Soltani.

Welcome to this new episode of the Jewelry Connoisseur Podcast. I'm your host, Sonia Estelle Soltani, the editor in chief of Rapaport. This podcast is for jewelry collectors, whether you're a novice or an expert, I hope you enjoy our series. Today we're meeting a jewelry artist, Ming Lampson. She's based in London and she's launching a new collection in New York called Origins. Ming is a gemologist. a goldsmith, a jewelry artist. And as she put it after this podcast recorded, she said, we're all a bit obsessive and completely crazy. So find out a bit more about her passion in this really, really exciting podcast.

[00:00:01] Ming: Hello, Sonia. I am well. I'm absolutely delighted to speak to you. I feel like I know you and I don't. Because I follow you so much and I read a lot and I listen to a lot of what you write and talk about. So there's a familiarity even though we've never met.

[00:01:04] Ming: Each collection has a story because... I like to design with the collections in a very different way from how I design for commissions. I'd like to give my collections a story because I enjoy the investigative nature of designing for a collection. And the story behind Origins was I was very fascinated and inspired by the earliest forms of jewelry. You know, in the age where we question why we wear jewelry, what is the purpose or the reason almost why we would buy it, why we would wear it. And for that I found that I wanted to really go back just to the origins of jewelry as human adornment. And I was fascinated by the idea that you could pick up a pebble or a shell and string it on you, you know, how you could almost weave threads to become something that you put on and how that turned to beads or [00:02:00] pearls what it was worn for, you know, was it just adornment? Was it for treasure? Was it for trade? Was it sort of honor the sun, the moon, the stars, and all of that kind of came into this collection. But I didn't want the pieces to be representative of those things. It was just more, how can I explore those ideas in what I make.

[00:02:31] Ming: It was more really, I guess, you know, I've been designing and making jewelry for 25 years and I've made my first ring actually 30 years ago as a teenager and you really start at a point in your career, question why you do what you do, why you make. And I love the history of jewelry, but I really wanted to take it right back for my own investigations.

[00:03:10] Ming: So there's a few different answers in that. The collaboration came about because of Vivienne Becker, who I hugely admire as a jewelry historian. I am very interested in the art form, obviously, the history of jewelry, the art form of jewelry. We become completely obsessed by it. Anybody who's around gemstones, you can't not. You fall so head over heels and deeply in love with jewelry, with stones, with the craft, with the technical thing. Vivienne's incredibly knowledgeable about the history of jewelry and she's been very supportive. She loves my work and she took me to Gem Genève years ago and presented me there. And I really respect her knowledge and views on jewelry. She introduced me to Stephen and Russell, who have a wonderful collection of vintage and antique, interesting, they've [00:04:00] got Alexander Calder, they've got old Van Cleef, they've got Belperron, they've got old Tiffany, and when you have an opportunity to stand alongside such incredible, inspiring heritage pieces, it's not something you're gonna turn down.

[00:04:30] Ming: Yes. So it was, a lot of it started with the concept of the pebble and then loads of things grew from that. And it was exploring early, very, very early, stones that were used, be it jade, amber, pearls, and from there the collection started to grow almost from a carving out of jade in a certain shape and from there it spiraled into other ideas of carved chalcedony, star rubies, star sapphires, using [00:05:00] opaque materials in a way that I like, where they're offset by faceted materials, and the juxtaposition between the two, and trying to explore these themes in a very modern, fine jewelry way, that didn't feel at all, like, I quite like somebody to pick up a piece I wouldn't even know that that's the inspiration. Like, the collection shouldn't, the pieces shouldn't in any way suggest that. They are my own thoughts and experiments and drawings. And I draw and draw and draw and the initial idea becomes so changed by the time I finish the piece. But that's just kind of for me, and if somebody asks me, I'm delighted to share it. But actually, the piece exists on its own. The piece, at the end, should always honour the stone. So, we're so lucky in, to use gemstones from the earth. And I always feel like I'm trying to make a house or a throne that honours the stone. So whatever the concept is, I want to honor what's come out, what [00:06:00] kind of has come out of the earth in a way that sets it off to its best nature. And so from that, that spiraled into stars sapphire, moonstones, yellow barrels, things that were represented the sun, the moon, the cosmos, the stars. But using shapes from my early explorations of jade pebbles, amber pebbles, that then translated into these later materials. So when you see the collection as a whole, this journey can be carried through. But when you see the individual pieces, you might not think, where does that relate back to origins? Where is the threads and the fringes connected to the initial idea of pebbles and, weavings?.

[00:07:18] Ming: Yes, it's a really good question. I mean, I think that, it has been a hell of a journey because you start with beads. You don't, I've never worked for somebody and I've very much sort of had to train myself. I guess the thing with the beads. has been, it started me with an obsession of gemstones, but alongside that obsession with gemstones, which is consistent the entire way through, and it seems to get stronger and stronger. I keep thinking, well, you know, but you see, you can never see all the stones and you can never not be moved and excited when you hold incredible stones. And I think it's always like, how can I make a better piece for that stone and how can I show people how amazing these stones are and you know, I get still incredibly excited [00:08:00] by the gemstones, but alongside that has been actually what I hadn't realized when I was much, much younger was a real love of kind of technical difficulties and tools and construction and creation, which, you know, I had to keep training myself and, as long as working with the stones was actually training to be a jeweler, learning about, I started in Jaipur with a kerosene lamp and a tube to solder and now we use lasers and it feels so far apart, but it actually is part of the journey. And then at the basis behind both of those things is my love of drawing, and that I just want to make things and that's been from a child, just constantly making things out of paper, out of Fimo, out of clay, out of, you know, so those three things have come together, but it's been quite a long journey because you have to experiment. If nobody in your family or any of your history is in making [00:09:00] jewelry. I had to work out, did I want to work in silver? Did I want to sell to shops? Why was I choosing item by item versus making many of a piece? And for that journey, I had to try and then learn why I didn't. I've always felt a guiding principle that jewelry is our treasure. And so therefore, for me, I never wanted to mass produce. Not only because it kind of put me in front of a computer much more and took me away from just sitting and drawing. But also because I don't think we need masses of jewelry each. We need few pieces of very finely considered made jewelry, not just in terms of us as individuals, but for us, for the planet, for all sorts of reasons. I believe in very carefully considered items that we own in life. But it was quite a journey.

[00:10:30] Ming: It's such a complicated subject, and I never want to, you know, I can't claim to be extremely sustainable, I can only claim to be trying to work at it. But I do think we all want to feel really good about what we wear, we want to feel very respectful to what the journey has been of the gold, of the stone, of... the construction and how, who that impacts, [00:11:00] be it in a human level or a planet level. And I know anybody I would talk about wants to feel, it sounds a bit hippie, but the spirit of the piece must feel good. Not just, it's not a commodity. And so therefore we want to make sure we respect the artisanal miners the gold miners, the gemstone miners, the cutters and how we can feel good about that. And so anybody who you discuss that with would agree, I feel.

[00:11:37] Ming: Yes, I don't want to preach to anybody, and I don't want to, tell anybody. If somebody asks me, I'll explain super clearly what I believe, and if I have the chance to bring that into the discussions, but I don't want it to be something that dictates a design or that somebody feels that their views might be different or [00:12:00] it's just something I believe in so I feel I can put it into the pieces.

[00:12:25] Ming: I feel that people are really starting to respect the idea of having the only one in the world, of one piece handmade. Which 20 years ago, we lived in a more, quick mass, you know, gold was very cheap, and it just there was a slightly different view that I'm starting to jewelry, and how I felt about jewelry than is now. I don't know if you'd agree with me, Sonia, but I feel that people are coming round to really respecting the crafts of goldsmiths or even [00:13:00] tailors or whatever it is versus mass production and people love to have something that's just for them. That they're the only one, because... I say to people that's their piece for their story and when it gets handed down or even if it gets sold, it's got something of them about it and I think people are really coming round to what makes them as an individual and design and jewelry comes along with that. Would you agree?

[00:13:57] Ming: Exactly, and I feel like, I had a client [00:14:00] say to me once, you know, it feels like my armor to the world, you know, and that concept is, very, very interesting, but it's also why collections are important, because with a private commission, it's not so much about me, it's about me trying to use my expertise and my design to capture something of that person. But with a collection, you're trying to use your expertise and your design to create a piece of art based on your own thoughts and ideas and explorations. And it's a very, very different way of designing and one is not more important than the other, but both are incredibly enjoyable. And I do find that both inspire the other. Because... The way you would start in a kind of research and design journey for a collection is very much how I would start in a research and design journey for a commission. And being sort of so one on [00:15:00] one about how people wear jewelry. Is it comfortable? Is it fluid? Is it part of them? Is it starting from a point of... being part of them, also informs my collection pieces very much. And so I very much, it's important to me to have both going on.

[00:15:25] Ming: You kind of have to start with yourself. Otherwise, I think as any artist is only going to be most true if they start from their own viewpoint.

[00:15:47] Ming: It's interesting because I always feel like a tiny piece of myself is in each of these collection pieces. You go through such sort of tears but joy. And, you know, there's always, [00:16:00] the most difficult pieces are often the pieces that I feel so fond of but kind of emotional about. Sometimes in making a one of a kind piece, you make it so many times in order for it to appear in its final form. It's sometimes difficult for people to understand how many times you might carve something and then it breaks, or because you're pushing techniques. Or you make the model and then it doesn't hang right, or it doesn't sit right, or it doesn't balance right. And a lot of good design is just about balance. You can have the same design, but if it's not constructed exactly right, the balance is just off. It's flat or it's heavy or it's not weightless or easy feeling or it just doesn't have the right, I go back to balance and often in the pieces that I'm most proud of or feel so fondly about it's because they've been very, very technically difficult and I've being very frustrated, but then had the complete joy of when we finally break through. [00:17:00] There are also pieces that I'm proud of because maybe there was a pivot in my whole design points from then on. Or they've gone to a home that I'm incredibly proud of. So there's definitely pieces from each collection that play into that. Where they've changed and they've led to a lot of designs from that point. And I can, send you pictures and an explanation where they are, but using historical techniques or using historical references, but in a very, very modern way, I always really enjoy, and where I showcase stones that make you see them hopefully in new eyes. Things that I search to improve about myself and then showcase.

[00:17:52] Ming: Yes, I think, you know, I love all stones and I try to work with an incredibly wide range [00:18:00] of stones, because I want people to share in the joy of what stones are out there. I definitely there would be some jade pieces I think from my history of living in Hong Kong as a child, but also, sort of what would be considered, Ayurvedic stones from times of working in India, where there sapphires and, chrysoberyl cat's eye, which maybe in Europe people aren't so familiar with, but are very important in Asia. I love all sapphires, but I love really unusually colored sapphires, which people don't get the chance to see in a lot of shops, maybe. Unusual colored tourmalines. where I have collected stones and matched them. There was a watermelon tourmaline bracelet that I really collected and collected to try and color match. There's some Siberian amethyst that I found from a dealer that was closing his whole office down and they were in his personal collection and there's a color. The mines, you don't really mine [00:19:00] Siberian amethysts now, but they're really pink. And I combined them with turquoise and the pink pulled out of the purple in the amethyst and the turquoise. And it was just so, the one made the other stone more special. And that's very exciting when you've managed to create that.

[00:19:19] Ming: Thank you Sonia, you're so kind.

[00:19:36] Ming: You know, if you were able to have an imaginary museum, you'd want to put in the people that inspire you, and that you feel like you want to honor, but as long with other artists, I mean, in terms of the jewelry world, there's artists who inspire me from their technical abilities, incredible, incredible technical abilities. You know, modern artists like, [00:20:00] Giovanni Corvaja and, Leen Heyne and people like that who are doing incredible, technical things with metal, Andrew Lamb comes to mind. But then there are old artists who... Like Louis Cartier, who just can't fail to inspire you, or JAR, or Viren Bhagat, these names that just are so incredible in their ability to have balance and use of gemstones. In terms of more, sculptors and artists, it would always go back to Matisse and Giacometti and some of these people who would take color or form and shape and explore them and explore them and explore them. I could go on and on. There's an artist called Erwin Anderson who is a painter who I just think is incredible, there's really many.

[00:20:56] Ming: So Origins is on show in the Stephen Russell [00:21:00] Gallery, which is on 76th and Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side. And it's going to be on display in that gallery from the 25th of October to the 28th of October, every day in a selling exhibition that showcases my work and some of Stephen Russell's incredible vintage collection in one of the cases alongside.

[00:21:29] Ming: In my own gallery in Notting Hill Gate in London, my gallery's 108 Talbot Road, and my workshop's underneath the gallery. Everything is made here, in the workshop underneath, in London. And that's the only place that I showcase the work, but anybody can just ring the bell and come in. It's not even an appointment only gallery. I very much like to... see the jewels on people to meet people myself. So we have it always on display here in London, but it's the first time I'll show it apart from in Geneva. It's the first time I'll show it in New York.

[00:22:06] Ming: Ming Jewellery, London.

[00:22:17] Ming: Oh, Sonia, that's incredibly kind words.

[00:22:33] Ming: Thank you, Sonia.

[00:23:15] Ming: Thank you so much.

 Thank you for listening to the Jewelry Connoisseur podcast by Rappaport Jewelry Pro. This episode was hosted by Sonia Ester Soltani and produced and edited by Vanina You can find all our episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and read more about diamonds, colored gemstones, high jewelry designers, estate jewelry, and the latest jewelry trends on Rappaport. com slash Jewelry Connoisseur. Please subscribe to get all our new episodes and if you liked this one, leave us a review.