Our middle name is Yù (玉) — jade. There are four of us: 玉玲 (Ling), 玉佩 (Pei), 玉君 (Chien) and 玉雯 (Wen, me). Ling is the eldest, the first to carry it, so the jade collection belongs to her.

I still remember the day she and my mother forced an undersized jade bangle over my hand and onto my wrist. It hurt like nothing I’d felt — and that pain is exactly why I’ve never taken it off. Years later it’s still there, worn smooth, grown so completely into me that I can’t tell where the jade ends and I begin.

That’s Ling. The sister who was always there, who shaped so much of who I am that she’s become part of me too. This collection is for her — jade, worn every day, close to the skin, permanent as the people who make us.