Brought up by modest jeweler parents who started their jade business in the 1960s, our founder Eric Yim first discovered the industry via bustling grey factories and Chinese jade shops. His father, Victor Yim opened his jade jewelry business, Yim’s Victor Jade Co., at the heart of the “Jade Street” on Canton Road in Hong Kong. Between the 1970s and 2000, this area was the center of all jade jewelry wholesale to Asia. And to this date after decades, their shop still stands firm supplying buyers with genuine quality jade.
At the time, many of these retailers were traditional in cookie-cutter ways, and left only faint impressions. While the pieces they carried held traces of historical charm and heritage, their designs were dejectedly conservative. Hence, Eric grew up with the idea that jade jewelry was dated, monotonous and made for generations past.
His initial disinterest gradually took a turn. As Eric drifted from his parent’s jewelry world into the realm of university and modern arts, he began to reevaluate jade in a new light. Studying engineering at school strengthened his interest in jade cutting, and his passion for arts fueled his desire to design. Time led him to discover the lengthy history behind the jade industry and appreciate its deep-seated culture. He recognized a potential in its raw beauty and cultural significance, and was inspired to showcase it in an innovative way.
Although Eric has ventured back into the jade industry where he started Jadeite Atelier, he did not return to the same one he knew as a child. Working with this beautiful, age-old material, he aims to change its misleading “green-Buddha” stereotypes and sculpt it into contemporary pieces that are relevant to the modern lifestyle.