Ryno Spence and His Vietnamese Stories on Jewelry
Ryno Spence has traveled halfway around the world from South Africa to Hanoi to open Aurient Gold, a design studio and handmade jewelry brand that tells stories of Vietnamese culture on its products.
Ryno Spence has traveled halfway around the world from South Africa to Hanoi to open Aurient Gold, a design studio and handmade jewelry brand that tells stories of Vietnamese culture on its products.
Ryno studied jewelry design and production at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa. He is an extrovert and always eager to learn. After graduating, Ryno spent a year traveling to study the cultures of various countries, focusing on the field of jewelry design. His first stop was China, and then Vietnam.
In Vietnam, he recognized that there were very few people working in the craft jewelry industry and saw this as an opportunity for his start-up dream.
After deciding to live in Hanoi in 2017, Ryno spent time working as an English teacher and then in 2018, he rented a small workshop to design and make jewelry. He also spent two years working independently and only selling jewelry online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fate has given Ryno a close Vietnamese friend, architect Pham Hiep. Together, Hiep and Ryno opened a bigger and finer jewelry workshop in Hanoi, including a showroom called Aurient Gold.
The remarkable quality of Ryno’s jewelry is that they are made completely from materials collected in Vietnam. The handmade quality allows one to see the elaboration, detail and personality in each product. Rings, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and pearl necklaces, are all emblazoned with stories of Vietnamese cultural life. They could be inspirations such as the blooming lotus season, which he depicted on earrings and rings, or the image of Hanoi’s pagodas and temples and traditional Vietnamese things such as, folk paintings and Indochinese fine arts.
Patterns on jewelry in project “Irradiate” of Ryno Spence win an elite prize
at a jewelry designing contest in South Africa. Photo: Viet Cuong
It’s not simply designing and creating jewelry for Ryno, but creating art from jewelry. His products such as rings, silver bracelets, earrings and necklaces depict the traditional beauty of the Vietnamese people in their daily lives. He has used such jewelry to introduce Vietnamese culture to international friends.
One example is the ancient stamp collection of Doctor Pham Minh (grandfather of architect Hiep). This set contains nearly 2,000 stamps with themes of Vietnam through historical periods. Ryno chose some of the most exclusive images to put on necklaces. This jewelry set of his has a special meaning to celebrate the historical moments of the Vietnamese people.
Patterns on jewelry in project “Irradiate” of Ryno Spence win an elite prize
at a jewelry designing contest in South Africa. Photo : Ryno Spence.
Along with jewelry design and production, Ryno has also implemented a project on Vietnamese handmade jewelry. This project is divided into three parts with the messages of, the Environment, Mother Nature and the Ocean. The project called “Irradiate” has won a prestigious award in South Africa for a work of great cultural significance in the jewelry design industry. The expatriates and Vietnamese people both love Ryno Spence’s jewelry for its creative designs that express personality and style.
Currently, Ryno is also looking for young people who are passionate about jewelry design train. He used to go to universities to recruit students and spread the charm of handmade jewelry design. For him, finding someone who loves this industry is a journey he will continue to undertake in Vietnam. “My simple joy when living and working in Vietnam is to smile and be satisfied with what I am doing,” confessed Ryno.