By Stylish Team
Having finished a short styling course at Parsons School of Design in New York, Pearl Tan, founder of Eirin Jewelry, has always been into fashion. She found her home though in jewelry.
Before officially starting her jewelry business, Pearl was in the banking industry for more than a decade. She finally took the leap and started her own jewelry line last year.
“I focused my career in the banking industry, being in banking for about 10 or 11 years almost right after I graduated college in 2008. I worked at Citibank, and then after that, I worked in UnionBank. I was moving from bank to another bank, and then moved on to financial institions,” she narrated in an exclusive interview with STYLISH.
“It was in 2012 when I took up a certification course at Parsons in New York for styling. I only did a couple of styling gigs here in the Philippines, and then basically went back to the financial world,” she added.
Years later, she’s drawn back again to the business of fashion when she started an accessories line, which turned out to be short-lived. Then, she eventually started her full-blown jewelry brand in December 2023.
“Eirin Jewery is fairly new. We only launched our socials in December 2023. Then we had a simple summer collection launch event that was very successful, as it was attended by some friends of the brand,” she explained.
“But I’ve been thinking of building a jewelry business around 2018 or 2019. And then when COVID-19 hit around 2022, I finally went with my gut feeling and took up a Diamond Course in Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in their Thailand branch. From there, I was able to create this business. I was able to find various collaborators to work with, who are currently helping me to build this brand,” she added.
“Ever since I was young, I was very much into finding quality jewelry for myself. I used to do styling because I studied it and had a couple of stints. And I really love styling people especially decking somebody out with nice jewelry. Guess that’s where my love for it really started and the passion just kinda homed into jewelry.”
The jewelry curator had an accessories line previously that served as a springboard in her current business.
“At first, I was focused more on fashion accesories, so the materials being used was more of alloy, not even gold or gold-plated. It was very much lower-end of accesories so it was mostly alloy, mostly cubic zirconia and things like that. It was actually a very, very small business that I just wanted to test out. It was done online and then I lost interest in it, because I just didn’t see the value in selling accesories made of those materials.”
“Basically, the jewelry quality made of alloy is not worth it in my honest opinion, because the metals start to degrade in six months to a year. So I started thinking, I had to do something far more valuable in terms of price, in terms of quality. And so I decided to study more about diamonds and solid gold as opposed to what I was selling in my previous business that I was just testing out.”
The ordeal encouraged her to find and focus on high quality jewelry made of gold and diamonds instead.
Then the inspiration behind Eirin was born.
The vision for the Eirin brand is to offer a different kind of jewelry in a sense that all of the designs are very contemporary and more modern, yet minimalist– as opposed to a traditional and conservative kind. The aesthetic is geared toward fashion-forward ladies who are conscious with their style, yet very minimalist when accessorizing with gold or diamond jewelry. All Eirin jewelry pieces are made of natural and lab-grown diamonds and gold.
Her jewelry pieces are mainly sourced out from various Asian countries.
“I have various manufacturing partners for the jewelry collection we currently have. And most of them are in Hong Kong, while most of our Everday Find pieces are manufactured in Japan. We have relatively a small collection, but as we get bigger, we are continously growing our custom designed pieces. We’re also growing our Everyday Find pieces, ” she said.
Eirin Jewelry offers mainly diamonds and gold jewelry. Everything is 18-karat solid gold, according to Pearl.
“If customers wanna go higher than that like 24k, 21k or platinum, then it can be done by custom-order. Anything below that, we don’t offer custom.”
“We also include gemstone in our collection currently. We have emeralds now, sapphire and rubies.”
“Currently, our most popular pieces are our custom-designed gold bar bracelets and necklaces. And we are planning to grow the collection, mainly because it resonates well to our customers.”
The popular pieces are the custom gold bar bracelet and necklaces, created in various shapes.
“I have a new oval shape on our gold bar bracelet. We offered them in 18k yellow, rose, and white gold. And the white gold it will be coming out in our next collection,” she said.
The Eirin 18k Italian Fancy Chains made of combined yellow and white gold chains, bracelet and necklaces are also very popular among jewelry lovers.
“I guess clients wear them daily because they are really, really light. And the inside are like halo, and made of 18k solid gold and in white, yellow and rose gold combinations.”
“Our Everyday Find collection is very minimalist. We have like a solitaire-shaped, either round- or pear-shaped diamond. And also our lab-grown diamond stones are also very popular,” she added.
Pearl shared the process when accepting custom orders from loyal clientele.
“Clients reach out and they send me pictures of what they wanna get done. Or I ask them to come to our showroom in Rockwell in Makati City too, where they can fill out a custom order form.”
“If they like our existing designs, they also ask for it to be done in either a different stone, or a different kind of gold.”
Pearl shared that it typically takes 6 to weeks to produce the custom jewelry piece– including the time for sourcing the stone, whether natural or lab-grown, and being manufactured in Hong Kong.
“We are highlighting our Italian gold chains—the yellow gold chains, yellow gold bar bracelets and our custom designs that we made: the emerald earings that feature diamond chains that loop underneath and behind the earlobe.”
The jeweler shared her insights on why she thinks women are drawn toward jewelry.
“When I’m just wearing a basic tank top and jeans, I feel something is lacking. And then I notice that I’m not wearing a necklace, or a nice bracelet or something. And then I put on some pieces of jewelry, and suddenly I feel more confident in whatever I’m wearing that day,” she said. “That’s the power of jewelry.”
“I feel like jewelry can reborn an outfit sometimes. When I put on some necklace and earrings, I feel like a better version of myself. A lot of women do feel empowered in this way because even when you are wearing something very basic just so you can feel comfortable, you just add something that sparkles, and then instantly you feel more confident, elated, empowered, even powerful. A jewelry piece can even be a conversation-starter when you are socializing with people.”
“In my honest opinion, I’d like to wear pieces of jewelry when meeting new people because it can be a conversation-starter and an ice-breaker. I personally love being asked where I got my jewelry pieces or how the designs came about, or what inspires me. In that sense, I find jewelry is a nice way to connect to one another.”
For more info about Eirin Jewelry, you may follow the brand on Instagram at instagram.com/eirinjewelrymaison and www.eirinjewelry.com.
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