GUNG · 9 YEARS · 2017-2026
9 YEARS, 9 PIECES
Nine years, nine pieces, and the many hands that shaped GUNG along the way.
GUNG did not begin with a clear idea of what it had to become.
Like clay, it took shape gradually through every idea explored, material tested and design refined. And as GUNG grew, more hands became part of that process.
Our team brought new perspectives. Collaborators introduced new ideas. Our community showed us what happened when a GUNG piece left our hands and entered theirs, how it was worn, styled, loved, and sometimes, what they wanted to see next.
Over time, we realised that the GUNG we know today was never something we shaped alone.
So for our ninth year, we return to nine pieces that carry these imprints.
Not simply nine pieces from our past, but nine chapters of becoming, each marking a moment, experiment or shift that helped shape GUNG into what it is today.
The Story Behind 9 Pieces
First Brass Sculptural Earring
FROM THE GUNG ARCHIVE · NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
Before GUNG found its style, it began with form.
Coming from an interior design background and a love for fashion, Yinn was naturally drawn to jewellery that felt bold, expressive and sculptural.
This early brass earring was inspired by the architectural form of a pagoda: a reference to the idea of the palace behind the name GUNG. Rather than approaching jewellery simply as decoration, the piece explored how architectural form and structure could be translated into something worn on the body.
Brass was a common jewellery material at the time, and became one of the first materials through which these ideas could take physical form.
Looking back, many of the things that continue to define GUNG were already beginning to appear: strong silhouettes, structure, proportion and the idea of jewellery as wearable sculpture.
The style would continue to evolve, but the instinct towards form and structure was there from the beginning.
Galore Gold Bracelet
As GUNG grew, another question began shaping the way we designed:
How could something sculptural also become something you reach for every day?
Our early pieces were predominantly made in brass. Over time, we began transitioning into stainless steel, not with Galore as the first, but as part of a wider shift in how we thought about material and wearability.
Living in a hot and humid country like Malaysia also made practicality difficult to ignore. Stainless steel gave us the durability and resistance to tarnishing we were looking for, while still allowing us to create the bold, structured forms we were drawn to.
Galore represents this chapter of GUNG particularly well.
Its oversized chain links still carry the structure and strong silhouette of our earlier pieces, but in a form designed to become part of everyday dressing.
It was an important shift in how we began thinking about GUNG:
Not choosing between form and function, but finding a way for the two to live together.
GUNG Iconic Gold Necklace
Some influences never really leave you. For Yinn, one of them was interior design.
An appreciation for form, structure and proportion had been present in GUNG from the beginning. Over time, those instincts began to develop into something more recognisably our own.
The GUNG Iconic Gold Necklace became one of those pieces.
Its structured details were inspired by the architectural idea behind GUNG, a name derived from “palace.” To us, a palace isn't only a physical place. It represents something we build for ourselves: our own sense of identity, strength and the life we choose to shape.
During GUNG's rebranding, elements of the GUNG logo were translated into the necklace itself, turning an idea that had lived behind the brand into something that could actually be worn.
And perhaps that's what jewellery can sometimes be not only something that completes how we dress, but a small reminder of what we choose to carry with us.
This was when GUNG's form, meaning and identity began to come together in one piece.
Serenity Beaded Necklace
FROM THE GUNG ARCHIVE · NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE
Once GUNG began finding its design language, we became curious about how far it could stretch.
Until then, much of our work had centred around metal.
Serenity marked a different direction.
We introduced beads and began exploring different textures, colours and ways of creating jewellery. There wasn't always a bigger strategy behind every experiment, sometimes we simply wanted to try something unfamiliar and see where it could take us.
Materials could change. Textures could change. But the curiosity behind GUNG could remain.
Serenity showed us that our identity didn't have to be defined by one material alone.
Fig Ring
With the Fig Ring, another element entered GUNG's vocabulary: Colour.
Inspired by the colours of a fig, coloured cubic zirconia was introduced into the sculptural forms we were already familiar with.
Until then, GUNG's design vocabulary had largely been shaped through form, structure and material.
Fig showed us that colour could become part of that language too by adding personality without losing the structure underneath.
Form gave GUNG its foundation. Colour gave us another way to express it.
Majestic Mixed Metal Earrings
For a long time, jewellery was often treated as either gold or silver.
Majestic asked a different question: Why choose?
By bringing gold and silver finishes into one sculptural form, contrast became part of the design itself, different in tone, yet balanced when placed together.
Instead of choosing between gold or silver, Majestic could live alongside both.
It opened another way for GUNG jewellery to be worn, and another direction for our design language to grow.
Sometimes contrast doesn't compete. It completes.
Aurea Aventurine Jade Bracelet
With Aurea, GUNG introduced semi-precious natural stone into our jewellery, bringing another layer of meaning into the object beyond its appearance.
Created as part of our One Turn Can Change Everything collection, the bracelet's turning clasp reflected the idea behind the collection itself:
Sometimes change begins with one turn.
Taking that first step can feel uncertain, so aventurine jade was chosen for its traditional association with grounding and emotional balance as a reminder of the courage it can take to move forward.
Here, material wasn't simply decorative.
The form carried the idea.
The stone added meaning.
And the person wearing it completed the story.
A piece could be beautiful, functional and still hold something more personal within it.
Eterna Aventurine Jade Earrings
As we developed the One Turn Can Change Everything collection, we kept hearing one request from our community: more earrings.
That led us to Eterna.
We brought aventurine jade into the sculptural forms GUNG had been developing, but designed the stone to sit only on one side of the earring. Turn it around, and the plain metal side creates an entirely different look.
It was our way of bringing together something we had always cared about, distinctive design that could still adapt to how someone wanted to wear it.
Eterna went on to become one of GUNG's bestsellers.
For us, that response meant more than simply having a popular piece. It showed us that the things we had been developing over the years with form, versatility, natural materials and our own way of putting them together were resonating with the people wearing GUNG.
What felt distinctly GUNG to us was becoming something our community recognised and loved too.
Dew Pearl Silver
After nine pieces and nine years, our final chapter doesn't begin with something completely new.
It begins with something familiar.
Dew Pearl Gold has been part of GUNG for years. And over time, we kept hearing the same question: would there ever be a silver version?
So for our ninth year, we listened.
Rather than creating something new simply for the sake of an anniversary, we returned to a piece people already loved and allowed it to become something new.
Dew Pearl Silver carries the same form that made the original familiar, reimagined in a different finish for the people who had been asking for it.
In some ways, it reflects where GUNG is after nine years.
We have a clearer sense of our forms, our materials and what makes a piece feel distinctly GUNG. But becoming doesn't mean arriving at a finished version of ourselves.
It means knowing who we are, while staying open to what we can become next.
And increasingly, that next chapter isn't shaped by our hands alone.
Dew Pearl Silver is a small reminder of that, something familiar, becoming again through the people who wear GUNG.
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A NOTE FROM YINN
“When I started GUNG, I knew the kind of forms I was drawn to. What I didn't know was where they would take me.”
Looking back at these nine pieces feels a little like looking at different versions of GUNG, each carrying something we learned, tried, changed, or chose to hold onto.
Nine years later, GUNG feels clearer to me. But it was never something I shaped alone. Our team, collaborators, makers, and the people who chose to wear GUNG have all left something with us along the way.
I think that's what these nine years have taught me about becoming.
You don't need to have the finished picture from the beginning. You keep shaping what feels true to you, and allow it to become clearer along the way.
GUNG is still becoming. And perhaps, in our own ways, we all are.
Thank you for being part of these nine years.
There's still so much more I want to create.
- Yinn