In recent years, luxury goods have significantly gained in popularity in China as the population has become richer. Domestic designers are now increasingly capable of meeting demand for everything from high-tech gadgets to the latest fashion trends. When it comes to luxury, however, people's answers may vary.

Most think that high costs, quality materials and special craftsmanship are the defining factors. But Ren Jin has a different answer – “Nothing’s more luxurious than time.”

 “As a professional designer, time is a problem but money is not.” Ren said. “I never really distinguish my work by time.”

Ren ought to know. This “Godfather of Chinese Jewelry” has spent decades in the business, picking it up from scratch in the 1980s, an era when neither he nor practically anyone else in China had experience in designing glittering pieces for women’s necklines, wrists and fingers. Now, as society has caught up with Ren’s fashions and authorities are encouraging Chinese businesses to innovate rather than churn as they famously used to, his time has truly come.

Before Ren became a jewelry designer, he worked at China University of Geosciences (CUG). In the 1980s, the CUG set up a jewelry department and needed someone to lead it. When the managers of CUG asked who would like to teach the new discipline, Ren said he would like to give it a try.

Without any skills in the area, he went to Hong Kong and registered for a short jewelry design course. Perhaps he had design in his blood – he continued studying as he was teaching, and compiled a design textbook himself.

At that time, few in China had positive views about “halfway monks”, people who switch to a new job without training. But Ren had faith and believed he could prove himself and inspire his students, as he eyed an explosion in Chinese consumption on the horizon.

The first step, he believed, was making a name for himself. Making a name for jewelry from the Chinese mainland would come afterwards. “I thought, ‘If I can’t get the attention of the industry, what about my students?’” Ren remembers.

So he set off with a pile of his design drawings on a train ride to Shenzhen, the southern Chinese city which was already developing a reputation as a hub for startup businesses.

“I didn’t think too much during that time, I was basically going from company to company and showing them my designs,” Ren says. There were several firms interested in his work who felt that this teacher with thoughtful insight differed from other hopefuls knocking on their door. They started talking to Ren about the future of the industry and that’s when he became a consultant to jewelry companies.

"This is an industry full of aesthetic appreciation,” Ren says. “Taking natural beauty and adding artificial cultural symbolism creates a sense of design.”

He has plenty of cultural resonance, having served as a judge on TV design competitions.

Ren cherishes the natural beauty of every single item and that’s probably the reason why his works are warmly welcomed by China’s middle-class, ” The natural gem in a delicate package, it has so many stories behind it. People then love it, that’s our job.

The past couple of years in China have been marked by a trend for startup businesses. Ren also founded his own brand, Re Jewoy.

“China has never seen such high-profile innovation; I think young people have ideas like never before, taking just one or two examples to encourage themselves,” he said.

Ren claims to have little interest in accumulating material wealth like houses and cars. He says he wants people to associate jewelry with nothing other than design for the sake of design. “I want to hold a jewelry design contest in the future to find those really creative designers without academic restrictions, as long as their ideas are good enough.”