How Our Studio Came to Life

How Our Studio Came to Life

From family pearls to a quiet dream that grew into Alya Pearls Studio.

1. Where It All Began

It all began during the quiet years of COVID, when I was living and traveling in New Zealand.
I carried few pairs of pearl earrings and rings with me - small gifts from China. Every time I gave one to a friend, they lit up with joy.
They didn’t just like them—they absolutely loved them.
And that simple happiness planted a thought in my mind:

“If everyone love them when they see these pearls, maybe beauty really is a universal language.”

So I wondered, why not let these pearls travel beyond where they were born?
Why not give them a chance to shine in front of the world?

Kaiteriteri, New Zealand - where the idea borns.

2. The Legacy I Was Born Into

The story, of course, started long before me.
In 1972, my great-grandfather began cultivating freshwater pearls in China, inspired by Japanese seawater pearl techniques. From that small beginning, our family slowly devoted itself to pearl farming.

Over time, we moved from traditional medicinal pearls toward true gem-quality pearls. By 1997, the very first batch of pearls fine enough to be called jewelry was produced—
the same year I was born.

I grew up surrounded by oyster lakes and the soft reflection of water.
I still remember the how the lake looks like: the quiet ripples, the sunlight moving across the surface.
It was probably the first time I realized that everything beautiful takes time to settle — just like pearls.

As our family business expanded, so did my curiosity.
We shifted from raw, low-cost pearls for medicine to higher-value jewelry pieces.
And somewhere along the way, I fell in love with this world of light and reflection.
After all, what woman doesn’t feel a little spellbound by things that shine?

A old photo in 80' found in our old house.

3. Seeing the Past Clearly

When I was young, most pearls I saw were dull and chalky, a pale beige with uneven surfaces. Perhaps only five percent could meet what we now call 4A quality.
The rest were ground into powder and sold as traditional medicine - a loss I didn’t fully understand until much later.

By 2015, technology had transformed pearls into a true jewelry material.
But another problem appeared: In many Asian cultures, pearls were still seen as something for older women - classic, elegant, but outdated.
Younger women hesitated, joking that pearl necklaces were for “aunties from the 1970s.”

Growing up between cultures—Eastern to Western—I saw this gap clearly.
In Asia, pearls carried too much history; in the West, they were often romanticized but misunderstood.
I wanted to bridge that distance,
to give pearls a voice that felt fresh, young, and modern again.

4. Bringing Tradition into the Modern World

After years of change, something beautiful began to happen. Across Asia, a quiet shift was taking place.
In 2022, sales of pearl jewelry in China rose by more than 100% compared to the year before. Most buyers were women between 30 and 40, and by 2023, the biggest growth came from women aged 25 to 35 - young, creative, independent, and ready to rediscover pearls not as heirlooms, but as personal style.

During those years, I lived in Kaiteriteri, a small coastal town in New Zealand.
There’s a pod of dolphins that often swims near the shore, and my favorite one was always the smallest—gentle, curious, and unafraid of coming close.
I named her Alya.

When I decided to create my brand,
it felt natural to borrow her name—
because Alya, to me, represents freedom, light, and connection with the sea.

I spent my childhood by the water, yet I never learned how to dive.
Maybe that’s why I’ve always been drawn to what hides beneath the surface.

5. The First Table, the First Tools

When I returned home in 2021, I didn’t have a grand plan—just a beginning.
I found my grandmother’s old jewelry tools in storage: a polishing cloth worn soft by years, a pair of pliers with her initials carved faintly on the handle.
I placed them on a wide wooden table by the window, the same table that became my first workspace.

There was no fancy equipment, no big team—only what I already had: pearls, patience, and a vision.
That’s how Alya Pearls Studio was born.
I sign up an Instagram account, began photographing the pieces I made, and slowly shared them with the world.
The response was overwhelming—proof that sincerity still travels far.

Now this is what a real jeweler’s desk looks like — chaos and charm included.

6. Still About Patience and Beauty

Now, years later, our studio has grown into a small but devoted team.
Every piece we create still begins with the same rhythm I learned from the water:
quiet patience, and the search for beauty that feels honest.

The world may have changed,
but for me, pearls remain what they’ve always been, small miracles of time and tenderness.

It’s still about patience and beauty—just told in a new voice.