Michelle Ong, the woman behind the exclusive Hong Kong-based jewelry house Carnet, was recently celebrated in a book called “21st-Century Jewelry Designer: an Inspired Style”.
Joel Arthur Rosenthal, aka JAR, describes Ong’s designs as “unforgettable” in the book, and he is not alone in his praise. A recent Telegraph piece describes Ong’s pieces as “exuberant, expressive and awe-inspiring”, turning diamonds into “things of tantalizingly impossible beauty”.
Ong started out as a jewelry maker when she couldn’t find anything she liked in the market. Thirty years in, she and her business partner Avi Nagar turned Carnet by Michelle Ong, founded in 1985, to a high-end business with deep-pocketed clients who appreciate the painstakingly beautiful detail, wonderful colors and luxurious materials Ong uses.
One piece, Ong told the interviewer in the same Telegraph piece, may take months or years to perfect. Ong’s message as a jewelry is simple to comprehend, if not always as easy to follow: be true to your creative vision, and never, ever, compromise on standards.
