A day on the road in Hong Kong
Hong Kong isn't just a city. It's a subtropical archipelago made up of 236 islands, islets and rocky outcrops. It is a city of diversity where new and old meet at every turn. It is a unique city with skyscrapers, the ocean and beautiful green mountains. It is also the place where Sparkling Jewels gemstones are made.
Every year Ton and Sharon pay a visit Hong Kong. It’s not only a inspiring city, besides that it’s the capital of all gem creations. With all new gemstones joining the family, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to ask Ton & Sharon about their annual sourcing and stone-selecting trip to Hong Kong.
On your last trip you’ve spent 4 days in Hong Kong, what did you get up to while you were there?
T: Well most days start with us discussing our tight schedule and action plan for the day, before heading to our ateliers to meet with our favorite craftsmen. On the first day we always have long conversations with Xu. He’s the master cutter and has often prepared everything down to the last detail for our arrival.
S: In the next few days we stood up very early to arrive at the Sparkling Jewels workshop before working hours. The new colors and stone options for our fall collection arrived and as always we were super curious to see them! Sometimes we feel like little kids in a candy store.
Being the landmark of Hong Kong and enjoying one of the highest numbers of skyscrapers in the world, it never fails to show the beauty of Most Beautiful Skyline in the World.
Could you tell us something about the new fall gemstone colors?
S: Before the trip we had already requested a selection of stone colors that we'd probably wanted to produce for the coming season. So when we arrived at the atelier Xu showed us the new raw materials like Red Aventurine, Yellow Jade and Green Aventurine. We were immediately in love and spend hours working on different shapes and cuts. Through all those rocky materials I saw a beautiful milky gray-blue colored rock.
T: This mysterious looking raw stone was the Grey Agate. Even before the grinding process, the Grey Agate was already a wonderful sight. It still amazes me to this day the transformation process they go through, as they are being cut and polished from raw to smoothly shaped gems.
The beautiful Grey Agate with different kind of blue- greyish shades.
Do you have any favorite places you go to when you're in Hong Kong?
T: While it’s pretty much all work while we're there, we do accidentally walk into some of our favourite shops & restaurants! I am obsessed with photography and I managed to take a few pics of our favorite spots. One our favorite thing is to take the ferry upon the river, where you have an amazing view on the harbor and skyscrapers.
S: We decided to end our adventure in this magical metropole in a beautiful rooftop cocktail bar, high up in the sky. Here you have an outstanding view over Hong Kong city. It's called Wooloomooloo with jaw-dropping views from the 31st floor and the best steaks in HK.
View from the hotel in Hong Kong.
