Charlene Li Xiaoling (second from right) gets the Special Excellence Award from Milan Culture Minister Claudio Salsi (first from left) and Chairman of the Jury of Milan Design Week Davide Rampello.[Photo provided to China Daily]

One day, a foreign friend paid her a visit and she showed him some of the design works and he instantly recognized them, with their unique shape and style, as "something Chinese."

Li says, "At that moment, I realized that an appreciation for design or aesthetics is not developed within a day or two, but it is built up by every aspect of our personal experience, including one's education and cultural background. And it lives in one's bones and blood."

With this new direction to follow, the design team studied artistic conception of paintings from Song Dynasty (960-1279), and the resultant collection, Forever Four Seasons, which expressed the connection between humans and nature, was exhibited in the Grand Hall during the 2016 Hong Kong International Jewelry Show.

"I want to popularize Chinese traditional culture, not by reconditioning old objects, but to create something new and add a contemporary aesthetic," Li explains.

Before she established Charlene Classic, Li was working for a French bank after graduating as a finance student from Peking University.

While the job paid her a high salary, she was not satisfied with the monotony of life and the idea of creating fine jewelry started to gestate, harking back to her childhood playing among the stones in Fujian province.

"When I was a kid, if I was scolded or upset, I used to hide myself in the gaps of huge stones nearby where I grew up," Li explains. "Now, as an adult, it's the smaller stones (gems) that give me comfort - they are my way to relax when I feel stressed.