{"id":70241,"date":"2023-05-09T19:47:41","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T01:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=70241"},"modified":"2023-05-09T19:47:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T01:47:41","slug":"meet-the-calgary-jewelry-designer-who-names-all-of-her-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2023\/05\/09\/meet-the-calgary-jewelry-designer-who-names-all-of-her-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Calgary jewelry designer who names all of her pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Lilian Guan<\/strong>, owner of Brightly and Lillian, showcases some of the jewelry she has made, while posing for a photo at the Devonian Gardens on March 31, 2023. One of the pieces Guan is wearing is a necklace, which was given to her by her mother. (Photo by Iaman Nawaz\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A<\/span>fter a long day of work, Lilian Guan takes a seat near her table, recalls the events of the day and sighs.<\/p>\n

S<\/span>he takes a moment to reflect and begins to write down her thoughts. As soon as her hand touches the paper, the words begin to pour out and fill the page.<\/p>\n

In deep reflection, there is a moment of clarity, and she realizes what her next project will be.<\/p>\n

Guan is a Calgary-based jewelry designer and owner of the jewelry brand Brightly and Lilian.<\/a><\/p>\n

Guan has been in the business for quite some time and has an interesting way of approaching the designs for her pieces.<\/p>\n

She considers what stage she is at in her life and the journey she is going through before selecting a name that best describes that sentiment. She then starts designing a piece to capture that moment’s essence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI pick the name first and from that name, I envision a piece that might symbolize what that [moment] could mean for me,\u201d said Guan.<\/p>\n

Guan started her business because of a necklace her mother gave her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually ran away from an abusive home and at the time my mother was tearfully telling me that she wished there was something that she could offer me,\u201d Guan said in a previous interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, she purchased a necklace for me and at the time I was so angry because I was like I can’t keep this necklace, I can’t get love from a necklace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guan says that over time, the necklace and that gesture resonated with her. It took some time, but she finally began to understand and feel her mother\u2019s love through it, and for that reason, she fell in love with jewelry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of heirloom gold lingered with me, just something that’s cherished and passed on from generation to generation that captures heritage, upbringing, life, culture, everything that’s involved in one\u2019s story,\u201d said Guan.<\/p>\n

That sentiment remained with her, and jewelry became an art form that she could use to capture all those elements. She also started expressing elements of her healing journey through her pieces.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Guan started receiving custom requests and began to listen to the stories of her clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found that by creating jewelry pieces, and also giving them an intention and a name, it actually supports other people,\u201d said Guan.<\/p>\n

Based on the emotions of her clients, Guan tries to create a piece to encapsulate that moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cInspiration comes when I envision myself in someone’s shoes and what they’re trying to capture.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Guan\u2019s custom pieces was for a student who left her home in Colombia to pursue education in Canada.<\/p>\n

At the time, the woman felt as if it was an irrational decision because it would place a huge financial burden on her family, but after some reflection, she decided to take the opportunity anyway.<\/p>\n

The woman was nearing the end of her master’s degree, when she reached out to Guan for custom jewelry. She wanted a piece that would honour herself, all that she’s fought for and what she\u2019s accomplished.<\/p>\n

\u201cColombia is one of the main manufacturers of emeralds and so she chose an emerald ring in cultivating her greatest good to celebrate her achievement, so I thought that was very special,\u201d said Guan.<\/p>\n

For that reason, Guan named the ring Emerald Garden – In Cultivating Your Greatest Good.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hadn’t really thought of graduation in such a sense. I was born and raised here, I never realized how you have to leave your country to go to school,\u201d Guan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sentiments really linger. It made me realize all that I take for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lilian Guan<\/strong>, owner of Brightly and Lillian, showcases some the rings she has worked on, while posing for a photo at the Devonian Gardens on March 31, 2023. One of the rings she is wearing is a custom piece that she made for a client, Guan fell in love with her story and decided to make a ring for herself as well. (Photo by Iaman Nawaz\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this feature, readers will learn about Lillian Guan, a Calgary-based jewelry designer, who names all of her jewelry, even before she makes it. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":827,"featured_media":70242,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 Lilian Guan","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-70241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70241"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70466,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70241\/revisions\/70466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}