The Botanicals: The Cherry Blossom
This year, we’re taking a trip down memory lane with our founder, Yilin. We’re celebrating the stories of botanicals that have been an integral part of the Choo Yilin Universe. We have carried these stories with us for years, and we’re delighted to finally be able to share them with you.
In 2013, the brand launched its inaugural Cherry Blossom collection. Tell us more about its inspirations.
Yilin: After the Camellia, the next botanical we sought inspiration from was the Cherry Blossom (c. 2013). We were deeply inspired by the Japanese custom of Hanami, appreciating the transient beauty of flowers.
While we have served bridal clients since our earliest days, the Cherry Blossom collection struck an overwhelming and particular resonance amongst our brides-to-be.
Why do you think that’s so?
Y: Brides shared that this was the perfect modern version of their wedding trousseau – they could pick out a bangle, a pair of earrings, a necklace, and a ring, which would appease the traditionalists who insisted that they had to purchase “four pieces of gold”. At the same time, the collection also represented wearable art that they could slip in and out of after the wedding, as it would fit in perfectly with their daily wardrobe.
An especially poetic bride-to-be told us that there was something incredibly poignant about immortalising what was perhaps the most transient of flowers in solid gold. It was as beautiful as it was unexpected, and that moved us.
An especially poetic bride-to-be told us that there was something incredibly poignant about immortalising what was perhaps the most transient of flowers in solid gold.
Is there anything about the collection that you want to highlight?
Y: This was the first collection where we had our first brushes with intellectual property infringement. Our artisan friends told us they would be handed over printed images of our Cherry Blossom pieces, asking if they could copy them. While we have always known that copying in our industry was inevitable, to come face to face with it was an emotional experience.
What was distinct about the Choo Yilin Cherry Blossom collection?
Y: Just like the Camellia, capturing the three-dimensional nature of the Cherry Blossoms was important for us. Equally crucial were the detailing of the petals and the texture of the bark.
“The petals had to curve! The petals could not be of equal size! It was important that we also featured the buds before bloom. The bark texture needed to be more realistic.”
It was this almost obsessive attention to detail that set our pieces apart. Our artisans often commented that this was an incredibly labour-intensive collection with many tiny, nuanced craftsmanship points critical to achieving the finished piece.
While we’re proud of every item we have showcased to the public, the Cherry Blossom bangle stands out for its technical sophistication. It is something that the team celebrates as a design milestone, a benchmark of sorts, for all our following pieces.
Asian heritage is important to the brand. Tell us how this collection celebrates that.
Y: The Cherry Blossom, unlike the Camellia, is widely known to be native to Japan, with millions of visitors flocking to the country every year to experience Hanami. This was our primary inspiration for the collection.
There are many cherry blossom trees in Europe and the USA today, likely because Japan gifted these trees as a token of friendship in the early 20th Century. But Cherry Blossoms were already present in Europe in the Victorian era. We know this because in a Victorian book, “The Language of Flowers”, Cherry Blossoms were meant to symbolise “good education”.
How have Western jewellers of the past honoured this flower?
Y: There’s an incredibly beautiful Cherry Blossom fine jewellery piece, created circa 1880 in England, which provides evidence that this was a flower that held significance in Europe before the 20th Century. The style is consistent from that era with the oxidised silver and the irregular rose-cut diamonds.
There’s also a 1920s interpretation of the Cherry Blossom by French luxury jeweller Boucheron. So remarkably different this time, with the era’s favoured techniques and material – rubies and transitional cut diamonds to reflect the blossoms, instead of the pearls of the 1880s version.
How does this differ from the Choo Yilin take?
Y: Our version, borne of its Asian roots and 21st Century influences, featured jade extensively and a luxurious palette of semi-precious gemstones that only became widely accessible in the 1980s.
This trip down memory lane is dedicated to the thousands of women who have one of Choo Yilin’s botanicals. Without you, there would be no story to tell.
