About

Chinatown’s small business jewelers carry vast inventories of beautiful fine jewelry that are often more affordable than those of larger retailers. The L. Lu Fine Jewelry Project connects shoppers to fine jewelry from these small businesses through our shoppable website and Instagram @llufinejewelry.

Through a single-storefront website, customers can easily discover and shop affordable, high quality fine jewelry that is fulfilled by family-owned businesses who may not otherwise have a platform to easily sell online. The project curates, lists, and markets jewelry on behalf of our small business partners so that they may continue to focus on running their multigenerational storefronts. L. Lu Fine Jewelry makes it easy for customers to shop small, and easy for small businesses to enter the e-commerce space.

In the past few years, direct-to-consumer jewelry businesses and social media trends have created a renewed interest in everyday fine jewelry. While Chinatown’s small business jewelers carry fine jewelry that’s appealing to the broader market, they face obstacles of little online presence, lack of foot traffic, or negative stigmas surrounding minority-owned businesses. The primary goal of L. Lu Fine Jewelry is to highlight the quality, affordability, and level of service that Chinatown’s small businesses have to offer, while destigmatizing fine jewelry that has been purchased from minority-owned businesses. 

 A foundation of the project is the belief that existing aspects of Asian-American culture do not need to “rebrand” to provide value to a broader market. Rather than rebranding or reimagining Chinatown’s jewelry stores, we celebrate them as they currently operate, proving to consumers that you can get the same, high quality jewelry for a better price without the bells and whistles of minimalist storefronts, beige displays, and wasteful branded packaging. The project is actually named after the creator’s grandmother, Long Xian Lu, as a constant reminder to stay true to her heritage and this mantra.