Special report from Hong Kong: Create & wear your karma

We live in the Age of Indi- viduality. Whether you make a state- ment through your sartorial choices, the “meaningful phrase” you tattoo on your body or your social- media persona, it’s all about highlight- ing your uniqueness and expressing your personal style.

 Ever mindful of this, German jewelry and watch brand Thomas Sabo created Karma Beads, which offers customers limitless ways to broadcast “This is who I am,” whether that be classic, edgy, simple and sweet, or rock-’n’-roll rebellious.

At French Window Brasserie and Bar in Hong Kong’s Central, Thomas Sabo recently unveiled its spring/summer 2014 collections: Karma Beads, and new pieces from Sabo’s Brit-chic “Glam & Soul” col- lection for women and rock-’n’-roll “Rebel at Heart” collection for men (though rock chicks can get in on the act, too).

Karma Beads is comprised of 72 dif- ferent kinds of beads you can customize any way you like, in meaningful motifs like yin and yang, Flower of Life, suns, stars and dragons. The beads are hand-cut from semiprecious stones, cultivated freshwater pearls, or come in intricate filigree patterns in Thomas Sabo’s signature blackened 925 sterling silver, rose gold and yellow gold plating.

Once you’ve chosen your “it” bead or beads, you can have them strung on Sabo’s sterling- silver necklace, bracelet — even hoop earrings! I like that the clasp is hidden inside a bead element, so it looks like an additional bead on an unbroken chain. You can choose just one meaningful bead or many, with stoppers placed in between to vary their positions on your necklace or bracelet. Whether you go minimal or fully loaded, the re- sult will be a highly personal piece of jewelry that holds special meaning for you.

“Karma Beads are influenced by Asia,” says the company founder himself, Thomas Sabo, who attended the launch along with CEO Dr. Harald Winzer and chief brand officer John Schlueter. “It’s a very nice thing to put on your daily karma beads.”

It’s also an in- teresting con- cept to actu- ally create

and define your own k arma, versus the age-old idea of sow- ing what you reap.

“Every bead has a meaning, because our claim is ‘Thomas Sabo celebrates life,’ so the customer can have good karma and can choose what is their individual personal karma,” adds Schlueter. “It can be colorful, friendly; to enjoy life or not; to be a hero as a man or have the strength of the dragon — it’s very much up to the person.”

Another savvy Sabo touch is that Karma Beads can be combined with new and existing pieces from the bestselling Glam & Soul and Rebel at Heart collections so that your accessories don’t date but stay current and relevant.

In the Philippines, where Eric Lee and wife Cheryl Lao Lee’s Anthem Shoppes distribute Thomas Sabo, the couple tells me that the brand’s Charm Club (jew- elry that you personalize with your own choice among hundreds of charms) reigns supreme — “It accounts for 65 to 70 percent of our sales,” notes Eric — proving that individual style and personal expression is the way to go these days, and Thomas Sabo is maximizing that concept with Karma Beads.

“The key piece is the Wheel of Karma, which signi- fies inner balance,” Schlueter says. “You can link it to another piece of jewelry with a delicate chain, which is very much on trend right now.”

That’s how Hong Kong style icon Angelababy likes to wear it. At the launch, the young Chinese model, actress and singer shared accessory tips with the assembled fashionistas: “I like to mix and match different styles and always choose my accessories according to my mood,” she says. “Therefore, the Thomas Sabo Karma Beads are just perfect for me. The wide range of choices gives you the possibility to really create your very own personal piece of jewelry. “My favorite item of the new collection

is the Karma Beads ring combined with the Wheel of Karma that is linked to the bracelet with a delicate chain, which is very much on trend right now.”

Another big jewelry trend is the tricolor story — combining silver with yellow and rose gold. “This has not really been done in the industry before,” Schlueter says. “We combine a rose-gold pendant with a silver chain, for example.”

Also coming up strongly is the development of men’s jewelry. “It’s become more and more popular, and also it’s less competition for us because we’re one of few brands that are operat- ing in that market,” Schlueter notes. “Men are becoming more self-confident in wearing jewelry.”

Consequently Thomas Sabo has both male and female brand ambassadors. The newest one is British model Georgia May Jagger, the celebrity offspring of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall. Sabo admits to being a big Roll- ing Stones fan — he even attended a Stones concert last December in London — so he was naturally drawn to Jagger’s rock roots. “Georgia is a new relationship, but so far it’s really perfect,” he says. “She’s very profes- sional, she has the attitude, and so we’re quite happy to have her onboard.”

“Georgia May Jagger is trendy and she fits to the brand,” adds Schlueter. “She has everything we need in a female: she can be playful, she can play it classic, and she can also play it ‘Rebel at Heart,’ and not just because of her last name. Because our jewelry is very broad in terms of facets: we not only have the skulls, we have very colorful and playful jewelry, we have very classic jewelry, and we have very trendy jewelry also for men. And she is really the perfect ambassador because she’s authen- tic and she gives credibility to us.”

On the male side are Formula One racecar driver Nico Ros- berg and pop violinist David Garrett. An avid jewelry wearer, Garrett was such a Thomas Sabo fan that he was the one who approached the brand, and not the other way around.

Sabo says he found his own passion for jewelry early on, even if he never had an education in gemology. “Thirty years ago when I would go on trips to Asia, goldsmiths were on the beach, they were doing bracelets, and from this I found my passion,” he recalls.

He founded Thomas Sabo in 1984, when gold was the pre- cious metal of choice and no one believed you could build a jewelry company on silver. “Especially in Asia gold was very common, but over the years the world has changed,” Sabo says. “The color silver became more and more impor- tant, especially in the ’90s in other industries, not only in the jewelry industry. Before, a lady would never wear silver jewelry. But now in Europe, customers come to us wearing complete Chanel and buying Thomas Sabo jewelry. So it’s totally changed.”

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The Karma Beads collection is available at Thomas Sabo boutiques in Power Plant Mall, Shangri-La Plaza Mall and SM Mall of Asia.