Cultural crown jewels

Wang says his identity as a craftsman, and years of experience in the business, convinced him that the cooperation with the Beijing museum will cater to the country's consumption upgrade.

"China has a splendid culture spanning thousands of years, and it is every intangible cultural heritage inheritor's responsibility to express it in a modern context to enable young people to understand and embrace it," Wang says.

He believes that, with the improvement of the aesthetic sense and taste of consumers, the future of the jewelry industry will see more products displaying cultural elements and unique designs.

At the moment, the new collection of jewelry has been available on major retailer outlets, including online stores. Qin Ya, a Beijing resident, recently placed an order for a necklace in the collection on Taobao. "I saw it on the model from the poster, and it looks great," Qin says.

After she dug into it for more details, she found it has been designed fashionably, and has aspects of intangible cultural heritage like filigree inlaying.

"I realized it would be a meaningful choice as well," Qin says. She spent about 8,000 yuan ($1,125) on the necklace and considered it a bargain as the "June 18 shopping festival" was going on.

"I'm looking forward to buying more pieces of intangible cultural heritage elements in the future, so my jewelry can be a bit more unique," Qin says.

Li Zhe, Mokingran's brand director, says young people born after 1990 have become a major force in the overall consumer market in China, and they have shown a strong confidence and self-assurance about their own identity and that of the nation.

"It calls for an intellectual property with strong national characteristics," Li says, explaining the reason behind the cooperation between the museum's senior artists and designers of the brand.