our story
JISU aims to break the mold, which we call the discipline of freedom, as it requires discipline to balance deeply expressing oneself and socially belonging. While this balance can constantly shift, the moments when we reach it may be the closest to freedom as we can get.
JISU manifests the discipline of freedom by blurring the boundaries of labels culturally viewed as counter to one another, such as feminine x masculine, passionate x practical, artifice x authenticity. We do so to show the fluidity that can exist — we can blur boundaries and allow ourselves to be many, many things at once.
Each collection expresses this dynamic both conceptually and literally. Every collection focuses on specific sets of dualities, which then guide the design process. The physical forms of our pieces express said dualities, whether through overall silhouettes, the shadows and passages of light cast by a pieces’ cuts, juxtaposed finishing techniques, or the movement of our pieces in motion.
Our jewelry is thus a dance open to expression by you. We hope our pieces invoke reflection, and above all, we hope that it may symbolize your own discipline of freedom.
the artist
Jisu is a New York City-based Korean-American designer and founder of the eponymous jewelry brand, JISU.
Born in Boston and raised in the continental U.S. and South Korea, Jisu, which translates to “the continual pursuit of knowledge,” possessed a natural talent for art at a very young age inspired by exquisite art, including the opera, ballet and fashion, and modern music and television including music genre visual kei that combined glam rock with gothic style.
Jisu graduated from Harvard Law, studied at Graduate School of Design, Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute, and worked in AI consulting for several years before launching her eponymous androgynous jewelry brand, JISU.
Since a young age, Jisu witnessed the influence that rigid gender, race and economic biases have on our life trajectories and self-perception. These biases and double standards manifest in all stages of life, through youth, young adulthood and into the professional sphere.
These experiences form a through line that leads to her jewelry brand, JISU, that challenges societal norms and champions authenticity.
the process
With all of our jewelry created in New York, JISU blends tradition and modern technology, relying on both lost-wax casting methods and 3D technologies. JISU works with a caster with a longstanding history of creating for global luxury brands to produce our jewelry at the highest quality.
Custom Made
To keep our jewelry intricately detailed yet lightweight, our designs are meticulously finessed to a precision of hundredths of a millimeter. Designs are tailored to the properties of each material, such as sterling silver or 18k gold, to maximize the balance of fine detailing, durability, and comfort.
This combination results in the need to create each piece of jewelry with a new mold of its own — a process more elaborate and labor-intensive than typical for the luxury jewelry industry; hence, each piece is custom made. With JISU, you are not only acquiring special pieces of jewelry, but also the finest craftsmanship from the heart of NYC.
Custom Finishing
Each component is decorated with its own type of finishing tailored to the piece, whether it be the bezel around a diamond, a custom clasping mechanism, or the minute details on a ring. No matter how small it might be, each part is intentionally designed and given an individual type of finish according to rigorous aesthetic and conceptual standards, to create a harmonious jewelry piece in sum.