Samantha Siu – Linking The Past With A Better Future

“The reason why I created such a beautiful brand that took so long to create was because the bigger
mission is the non-profit side”.

It’s a warm summer day and I’m sat with Samantha Siu creator of her eponymous jewellery label and I’ve
just asked her about the charitable side of her work that’s seen her contribute towards everything from
medical clinics to animal welfare.

“What my aunt said to me really resonated with me on why I changed my passion from just helping others to committing a cause to make the world a better place. She said to me always nice for people to look at you to thank you and give you accolades for everything that you do. When you go back and help, what’s to sustain it?”

Sustaining that investment is core to the labels values, collections are designed around each of the charities that Samantha Siu works with and contribute ongoing revenue streams towards their work, but make no mistake, the collection is just as important as the mission, statement pieces that are designed to be bold and yet versatile, for example the conventional clasp has been done away with and the necklaces can be worn in two ways rather than the usual singular position, the problem-solving nature of Samantha saw her refuse to give up in her pursuit of the product she wanted and after scouring Asia for people to help deliver her vision she eventually found the right partner in Thailand.

As Samantha talks, she’s moving her hands as if holding an imaginary piece, it’s clear to see her passion and her energy, her fingers move and dart as if doing an imaginary Rubik Cube, you can see an underlying fascination with not just the creative side of her work but in the mechanics and composition, challenges that when working with multiple stones per piece that are uniquely shaped and sized set alongside the reversible nature of each item are part of the daily process.

“It’s so funny to me, because design wise, when I was designing, I was like, why hasn’t this been done, it’s a simple concept? And I realised it hadn’t been done because it’s too hard, it takes too much time and money to make. That’s why it’s sort of like my blood, sweat and tears”.

Independent ways of thinking seem somewhat of a hallmark for Samantha Siu, I push a little bit on her background and if she always went against the flow?

“When I was when I was a kid, I always wanted to be the perfect obedient child. And then I grew up and I did everything that I was supposed to. I took a stand at 25, I think it’s that age when you just become a woman and you feel like you can rule the world. I didn’t even know I was supposed to be a jewellery designer, I didn’t know that I was I was going to create this new movement of interchangeable jewellery. But my legacy that I want to lay out is the fact that I want to preserve what we have on this planet, by creating beautiful jewellery, and creating jewellery that can be handed down through generations.

From the sustainability side we’re moving forward by returning to where we came from in the industry side, that things should be made to last, that good fashion can become an heirloom, I pulled at the discussion thread for a deeper insight to this.

I want to create Jewellery that was able to be handed down and come with the same concepts. To make that statement that with this piece we can create together and also segue into what is this piece? What’s the story behind this piece? And where did I travel with you? What was I immersed in when I was at that moment? You can see that with our stories, the non-profit’s that are associated with for example, our elephant necklace. The proceeds go to see the foundation, there’s a story behind it, it’s beautiful, you can hand it down to your future generations to tell that story so that they can see the elements”.

Find out more about Samantha Siu and her work at samanthsiu.com

By Ross Pollard – APAC Fashion Editor