Wynn Wynn's winning jewels

One of Manila’s hottest jewelry designers is Burmese by birth but a Filipina by choice.  Gracious and lovely Wynn Wynn Ong has lived in our country for so long that I tend to converse with her in the vernacular as I am wont to do with friends that I feel comfortable with.

Egged on by her good friend Michael Salientes, she has formally been making jewelry since 2001 and her creations are snatched up as soon as they are displayed.  Her works of art remind me of the legendary American jeweler Seaman Schepps who used nature as the inspiration for his highly sought jewelry pieces that have been coveted by collectors worldwide since the 1930s.

Wynn’s artistic designs in her latest green collection are done in an ecological way by using sustainable, renewable and recyclable materials.

“My work has always been a conscious protest against mass production. I created several pieces for the Hellenic collection based on fine gold pieces created from 500 to 300 BC.  We used repoussee, chasing and reticulation techniques.  It’s labor intensive but the results are intricate pieces that are light and delicate.  I want my pieces to stand the test of time. I want the brand to stand for excellence in craftsmanship as well as quality.  It’s been a genuine privilege and pleasure for me to be able to do what I love on a daily basis,” Wynn explains.

She enjoys the intellectual challenges that jewelry making entails and is fascinated with all the processes that make a piece — gems, metals, various types of crafting and art such as sculpting, lost wax casting, setting, metalworking, and plating.  The metal base used ranges from brass, to copper, 14 to 22K yellow and rose gold, as well as titanium, pure silver and sterling silver (.925).  Finishes of the jewelry pieces are in rose copper, silver, and yellow gold.  As much as possible, materials such as wood, snakeskin, crocodile, horn, precious gold, and silver are sourced locally. Since we are not a gem-rich country, colored stones come from Brazil, Burma, India, Australia, and North America. The faux coral pieces used are man-made from resin, pulp and fiberglass to preserve the environment.

This jeweler believes in after-sale service and now offers lifetime servicing — clients will only be charged for the cost of materials used or replaced.  She archives all her work and would like to photograph some of her earlier pieces by looking for clients who own these pieces to contact her so that they can be restored and photographed for her archives.

Another feather in Wynn’s cap is her inclusion in a coffee table book Hidden Gems of Asia. It’s about iconic jewelers who create works of art in the Asian region and Wynn is the sole representative of the Philippines.  It is published by Haven Books of Hong Kong and is now available at Barnes & Noble as well as on Amazon.  

Wynn Wynn has two collections in Makati — one at Firma at Greenbelt 2; and at Univers at One Rockwell.  The collections have exactly the same concept and form but are executed in entirely different color palettes and styles, with a completely different sense of aesthetics.  

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For inquiries, visit www.wynnwynnong.com.  For those based abroad, pieces are available at vivre.com, and at the Asia Store on Park Avenue in New York, USA.