On how her family inspired her on her path:

Ever since I was little, I have always been mesmerised by jewellery. My grandmother [the late Clementina Ho] was a huge [fashion] collector—she always had impeccable dresses and clothes and her jewellery would match. I think this is where I got this from. My goal was always [to build] my brand from the very beginning. Maybe that had something to do with my family—growing up, I watched how they ran their successful businesses. And so for me, it was always my goal to have my brand. I wanted the freedom to decide the direction I wanted to go in, the styles I wanted to design and the pieces I wanted to launch.

On switching gears from fashion to jewellery:

I studied fashion [at London Metropolitan University]—jewellery didn’t come to me straight away. I was doing a part-time degree and working because I thought it would speed up my career. I worked for fashion houses like Yves Saint Laurent and magazines like Marie Claire. I found myself constantly putting gemstones on my dresses. I eventually made the transition. I qualified as a silversmith and jewellery designer and also as a gemologist at the HRD Antwerp [an academy of gemmology and diamond grading].

On the philosophy of her brand:

We work quite differently to other jewellery houses. We follow the circular economy as a business model. We source antique gemstones ... and then, using the existing materials, redesign them into new, contemporary jewellery. We recycle gold. When we design a new piece, we keep circular design in mind, so that it can easily go through the circular process in the future. This is something we’re very proud of.

On how Sarah Ho London stands out from the crowd:

Eight years ago, I woke up one morning and thought: my clients are bringing me old jewellery, antiques—so why can’t I source antiques that already exist in the world and use them for my jewellery collections? If you have a family heirloom but it’s not in your taste, and you feel bad about changing the look and feel of the piece, we not only can upcycle the gemstones. but also recycle the metal in the piece. We can show it to you on a video, where you can see the metal being poured and melted into the new design. That’s what makes our brand special and different to everybody else.

On what her business offers—collections and bespoke:

We have two divisions in the business. One side of it is our collections. Instead of going to a gemstone supplier, we source the gemstones ourselves from antique dealers. The other side of our business is bespoke. Our clients bring in their preloved jewellery. A lot of our clients think they bring us a piece, like a ring, and we redesign it into another ring. But we say to them: bring us anything—half an earring, a broken earring back, broken chain, loose pearls. We use all the ingredients and create a brand new piece of jewellery—so that it can be loved and treasured again. If the client doesn’t want to break up an [existing] piece of jewellery, we can add different elements to it without breaking it apart. For me, it really is limitless, and a pleasure for us to see what we can do. 

On special considerations made when it comes to sourcing antiques:

This is something I’ve learned along the way. When looking for jewellery to be repurposed, I find that the number one rule is to never break down a branded piece of jewellery or a masterpiece—that would go against my beliefs. I tend to look for unnamed pieces. We wouldn’t look for pieces covered in pavé diamonds or pavé gemstones, because to unset each one of the stones would be too time-consuming and too labour-intensive—which then doesn’t make sense. It’s very difficult to reuse smaller stones in a new piece of jewellery, because you can’t control the grade, the colour, the clarity, the quality. We tend to focus on the centre stone, so then we wouldn’t have as much waste. We want to make sure we can circulate the process and not have something left over that we’re going to have problems reusing.

On the benefits of redesigning antiques:

You’d be amazed by how much antique jewellery exists that is just set in really bad designs that desperately need a makeover. That’s how I see it; there is really no need to be mining new stones. We are minimising mining and preserving the natural resources that we still have on earth. 

On her new boutique in Monaco:

After a year of us living here, I just knew this was the right spot for a store. It’s strange—I never felt London was the right place for me to have a store. We’ll focus on this store first—it’s a whole new experience for us. The next location on my wish list is Porto Cervo, Italy.

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On moving from London to Monaco with her family—and staying:

It’s been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. I never realised how important it was for me to have the sun and the sea. It grounds me as a person. Since I’ve been here, I can’t imagine myself being anywhere else.

On her best memories of Macau:

For me, it is always about food. Strange little memories pop up, like buying snacks—rice balls wrapped up in leaves. I remember it was always such a quiet, tranquil place. Being here [in Monaco] is kind of like a mirror to my memories in Macau.

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