PARTLY FUELED BY FREQUENT APPEARANCES ON BRAVO SHOWS (AND DESIGNING ONE OF ITS STAR’S ENGAGEMENT RINGS), KYLE CHAN HAS BUILT A JEWELRY DESIGN BRAND TO ENVY

BY TIA KIM

Kyle Chan began his business inside a hospital room in 2010, where his boyfriend was being treated for leukemia. The Los Angeles based jewelry designer spent eight hours a day for nine months making wish bracelets reminders to keep his beau in their collective thoughts.

“My mind was just like, ‘I’ve gotta make [them] or it’s not going to happen,’” he recalled.
Within just two years, this offhand creative notion had expanded to selling pieces out of local boutiques, one of which Miley Cyrus happened to frequent, and she became Chan’s first A list client. Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Kyle Richards discovered his work at a local flea market, and since then, pieces have ridden a wave of partly media fueled notoriety that has them now being sold at over 300 retail locations worldwide.

Several castmembers of Vanderpump Rules, another Bravo show, are also among Chan’s devotees both wearing his designs to industry events as well as on screen (show watchers might nod at his Love Initial charms or unicorn pendant). In time, Chan came to be referred to as “the unofficial jewelry designer” of the network.

The 43 year old, who moved to the U.S. from Hong Kong when he was 13, explained to Glamour in a 2018 interview that, unlike many designers who crave celebrity fans, but perhaps not those of the reality TV stripe, he was thrilled with the support. “I was just happy to have them wear my stuff,” he said, adding that he simply “liked those Vanderpump kids.”

The mutuality of that feeling was perhaps never more enthusiastically put than when he was asked to design Vanderpump star Katie Maloney’s two karat pear shaped diamond engagement ring in 2015 (she wed another of the show’s stars, Tom Schwartz, the next year).

In the same Glamour article, Schwartz detailed that “Kyle became a friend first. We soon after realized what an incredible talent he was… When it came time to pop the big question, he was a no brainer of a choice. Every time we want to make something special for friends or family, with minimal information, [Chan] has a knack for making exactly what you want, even if you can’t exactly articulate it.”

Also in 2015, costumer Mary Zophres contacted him about using his 14 Karat Yellow Gold Green Moss Aquamarine Necklace (available on his site) for the lm La La Land, which went on to be named Best Picture at the 89th Academy Awards. Stars like Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood, Ariana Grande, Kendall Jenner, Mary J. Blige, and Darren Criss also count themselves among his admirers.

Kyle Chan Design
kylechandesign.com