With a sharp sensibility, gentle humor, and vicious sense of geometry, Sang A Im-Propp’s first jewelry line launched in November at select retailers worldwide and on her website www.sanga.com. For this new venture, the designer incorporated those same principles she has used since she began her namesake handbag company in 2006.

The collection includes a wide range of handmade 14K gold and gold-filled seamless earrings (sans backing) in unexpected shapes like lightbulbs and milk cartons, along with rings, bracelets, and hairpin designs. Each sample is developed in-house, and all final products are made by skilled workers based solely in New York.

Creating her new line here was important to Im-Propp, as it allowed her to continue to design accessories tied to her Korean heritage while still feeling fully integrated in her life in America. And this transition from handbags to jewelry was a natural progression for her. It was fueled by a desire to add something she felt was missing in the current market: Pieces she could live in for months.

“When it comes down to accessories, I am lazy in a way,” Im-Propp said. “I want to pick one bag or piece of jewelry to wear for months.”

She experimented with product development for six months with a colleague and former jewelry design student from the Rhode Island School of Design, before the culmination of her first-round of pieces.

“Sitting at the work bench, forming, soldering, and polishing the jewelry carried me away to a world of Zen,” Im-Propp said.

Now, with a decade of accessory design experience and her first jewelry collection under her belt, Im-Propp looks forward to adding more styles and finishes, and incorporating materials such as pearls and black diamonds into her collection.