The Story

I am Amanda Lui, a jewelry designer and maker based in California.

After living and working in Hong Kong, Colorado, and Illinois, I returned to California, where I continue to create one-of-a-kind jewelry inspired by the stories gemstones carry and the memories they come to represent.

My journey into jewelry began long before I ever imagined it would become my life’s work.

I was sixteen years old when I left home with nothing more than a suitcase of clothes and a ring my mother had given me.

While she was pregnant with me, my mother bought a simple spinner ring in Miami. Years later, she gave it to me. It had a star at its center and a moon that revolved around it. It wasn’t valuable in the traditional sense, but it became the most meaningful piece of jewelry I owned.

Not long after leaving home, the ring was lost.

I searched everywhere for another like it, hoping to replace something that had meant so much to me. My mother couldn’t remember where she had found it, and I didn’t have a single photograph of it. As the years passed, even the details of its design slowly faded from memory.

What never faded was the feeling it carried.

That search eventually led me to study jewelry design at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in Hong Kong. What began as the search for one lost ring gradually became a lifelong fascination with craftsmanship, gemstones, and the stories jewelry carries through generations.

After graduating, I worked in private events before joining a watch company in product development. It was there that I discovered I wanted to create jewelry rather than simply help bring someone else’s designs to life.

Eventually, I moved to San Francisco in search of a new beginning.

Like many people starting over, I took whatever work I could find. Over the years I worked in retail, cafés, furniture, banking, and later event production. Every role helped me build a life while teaching me resilience, discipline, and the importance of connecting with people from every walk of life.

Although jewelry was no longer my full-time career, it never stopped being part of my life.

In the evenings, on weekends, and whenever I could find the time, I designed engagement rings, redesigned heirloom jewelry, and created custom pieces for friends, family, and the small circle of people who believed in my work long before Lui Jewelry existed. Those early commissions became my greatest education. Every piece carried a story, and every client entrusted me with moments that would become part of their lives for years to come.

When the pandemic brought the events industry to a halt, it also gave me the opportunity to dedicate myself fully to the dream I had quietly been building for years. What had once been evenings, weekends, and word of mouth commissions became Lui Jewelry.

Today, every piece begins as a hand painted watercolor before being carefully brought to life at the bench. I believe the design should grow from the gemstone itself, allowing its color, character, and natural beauty to guide the final piece. Many of the gemstones I use are carved and polished by hand, making every design a conversation between the stone and the metal that surrounds it.

I have never believed that beauty belongs only to rare or precious gems. Some of the most captivating stones are found in unexpected places, and I hope my work encourages people to see beauty not simply through value, but through individuality, craftsmanship, and the memories a piece comes to hold over time.

I never found the ring that inspired this journey.

Perhaps I never will.

But in many ways, every piece I create is a quiet tribute to it. A reminder that the most meaningful jewelry is never defined by its value, but by the memories it holds and the stories it continues to tell.

My journey also changed the way I see beauty.

Life has a way of humbling us. Through years of starting over, working different jobs, moving between cities, and building my dream one step at a time, I came to appreciate beauty in places that are often overlooked.

Perhaps that is why I have never believed that beauty belongs only to the rarest gemstones. Some of the most captivating stones are found in unexpected places, just as some of life’s most meaningful moments are found in the chapters we never planned.

Today I choose gemstones not simply for their rarity, but for their individuality, their color, character, and the feeling they evoke. I hope each piece reminds its wearer that beauty is not defined by rarity alone, but by the story it carries.

— Amanda Lui