Shine bright! Celebrity jeweler Kyle Chan has designed pieces for Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey, Camila Cabello, Lady Gaga, and more, and he told ET all about his creative process and the baubles A-listers love while celebrating his Kyle Chan x Gold Bar Whiskey Wall collaboration.
“I first learned how to make jewelry when I was in high school, where I was required to take a mandatory art class. I didn’t want to paint, and I didn’t want to be a carpenter, and I saw that there was a jewelry making class, so I took it with a leap of faith and immediately fell in love,” Chan explains.
From there, he decided to launch his own line of one-of-a-kind timeless rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and more, made to mix and match.
“Each piece comes with a very unique story. … Many originated from a gemstone that I found, and I used my imagination on what these gemstones could turn into,” he shares.
And that distinctive look is part of the reason why A-listers can’t stop wearing his designs.
“Often times when I get a project, not only do I study what the celebrity’s red carpet style is, I also study their own individual and personal taste. I then take it step further and try and look into their life to tailor jewelry to them,” he notes.
An experience that stands out to Chan: “I once created a collection for Beyoncé and designed a diamond honeycomb-shaped pendant with IV on the inside. For the little dot on the diamond ‘i’, I used a rare blue diamond, which represented Blue Ivy, for her daughter’s name.”
“I also made her a custom honeycomb-shaped blue and white diamond body chain, where honeycomb represented “Queen Bee” and the blue represented Blue Ivy. The body chain hung close to her heart and body, and she absolutely loved it,” the jewelry expert adds.
Beyond producing meaningful pieces, Chan believes jewelry makes an outfit no matter how you choose to wear it.
“Jewelry is the most important thing to help complete a look because it’s like the chandelier of your house. Without it, that shine is no longer there.”
“The thing that I love about jewelry is that there is no limit and no rules. It can be simple, or bold, loud and colorful, and inexpensive metal or exquisite rare gems. Whatever story you want to tell, that story is yours and yours only,” he says.
