Her whimsical, beautiful creations are worth a fortune, literally. But as Han Bingbin finds out, Cindy Chao's real mission is to blaze a path for Chinese designers in the world of jewelry design.

Her works are in the Smithsonian Institute now, but every step Cindy Chao took on her way up is marked by an unconventional story. Three years ago, Chao was among 10 designers invited by De Beers to design creations for a Forevermark global exhibition.

It was an extremely rare opportunity for a Chinese designer, but when the deadline came, Chao told the organizers she had nothing to show. None of her designs, she felt, came close to "the best I can do".

She was given an extended deadline, and four weeks later, she delivered.

But it was a close shave, because inspiration only came to her a fortnight before the new deadline when she was going through some old photographs. In one, she stood next to her grandfather, who was holding a Tang Dynasty-style silk fan in his hands.

At that moment, she remembered what her grandfather had said: "Every Chinese beauty should have a fan."

That inspired her to begin work on a diamond fan. She quickly finished and submitted the blueprint and it was accepted immediately. But, production hit a hitch because no European workshop would take the commission, saying it had too many technical difficulties.

Chao shut herself up in her studio for six weeks, working on a wax model. Finally, after eight painstaking months during which it took 20 craftsmen to mount the gems, the piece was completed.

The result was stunning. A filigree of sprays caressed the fan-frame encrusted with 2,399 diamonds. Chao named it her "Majestic Beauty Fan".

Chao credits her family's teaching for this success. Chao's grandfather, a veteran architect in Taiwan who designed many of the Buddhist temples on the island, trained her to visualize the full dimension of an object while only showing her a drawing of it.

It was this training that later enabled Chao to directly sculpt a 3-D wax model even without sketching it out first. Her father was a sculptor, and what his teachings also helped Chao tremendously in this process.

You cannot look at her body of work without noting this milestone. The fan is probably more a story of how inspiration must be paired with skilled craftsmanship. And as Chao herself stresses, confidence and courage are just as important as artistic sensitivity.

When Chao was studying in New York years ago, she passed the Christie's building every day and she would imagine that if one day, her creations could be auctioned here, she would consider that the pinnacle of success.

That dream came true in 2007 when she called Christie's New York office. She had just completed her first "Four Season Collection" in Taiwan, and she asked Christie's to take a look.

When she finally met a Christie's buyer in New York, she was trembling in anticipation of a "no". Christie's agreed to take two pieces. Chao then made another bold request. She wanted her name on the pieces - a practice the venerable auction house had agreed to only with top brands.

To her surprise, the Christie's representative looked her in the eye and said: "I really believe in you and you deserve it." The only blemish in the deal was that Chao had to agree to a reserve price.

Chao's designs were sold at the auction with what she thought were "surprisingly good results". The buyer later wrote her an e-mail acknowledging her huge potential.

"That's what life is: When you have a goal, go bravely pursue it," she says.

Chao's standing as a master designer is now unchallenged. Every step up has left a significant footprint. In addition to her astounding success with the signature Majesty Beauty Fan and the first auction at Christie's, she has another feather in her cap.

Last year, one of her designs was collected by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, an occasion which made the headlines on the prestigious Women's Wear Daily magazine. The piece was a butterfly brooch made of gems and more than 2,000 diamonds.

The same year, her jewelry was sold at Bergdorf Goodman, and there are exhibitions of her designs at fashion centers worldwide such as Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

"My work being collected by the Smithsonian will hopefully usher in a new chapter for Chinese designers in world jewelry design history. It's truly this that makes me think that I've made it."

After having conquered the West, Cindy Chao is now shifting her focus east. Beijing is top priority and she unveiled six of her latest designs in the capital on July 26. Chao, who has been working mainly from her studio and accepting only select commissions, has also announced that she will be opening her first flagship store in Beijing at the end of this year. She has named it the Art Jewel Gallery.

You can contact the writer at hanbingbin@chinadaily.com.cn.