S’pore jewellery brand State Property is worn by Rihanna & Florence Pugh

Homegrown jewellery brand State Property is now sold beside luxury giants worldwide

Singapore is not short of jewellery stores. 

From the gleaming counters of Cartier and Tiffany at Ion Orchard to the indie labels that have quietly multiplied over the past decade, the options are vast. 

But in 2015, when Afzal Imram and his wife Lin Ruiyin launched State Property, there was a specific gap they felt no one was filling—fine jewellery that led with design rather than gemstones.

10 years on, that conviction has taken them from a home workshop to retail shelves in the US, the Middle East, the UK, Japan and Hong Kong. Their pieces have even been worn by Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift and Robert Downey Jr.—a roster that would be implausible for most independent jewellers anywhere in the world, let alone one founded by two Singaporeans straight out of university with no industry connections.

“We’re as good as anyone else from any other part of the world,” Afzal, 37, told Vulcan Post. “I don’t think we should see ourselves as being held back in some way.”

We spoke with Afzal to find out how the couple built State Property into an internationally recognised indie fine jewellery brand.

A shared obsession with design

Afzal and Ruiyin, 36, met around 2010 through mutual friends. He was studying industrial design at NUS, while she was at Central Saint Martins in London, completing a degree in jewellery design. 

The uncanny geographic distance closed when Afzal went on an exchange to Paris, where the pair spent the time collaborating on each other’s projects, each covering what the other lacked.

“What she’s good at, I’m not good at, and what I’m good at, she’s not so good at,” Afzal said. “We managed to kind of help each other out.”

Both were drawn to architecture and geometry—a design sensibility that would later define State Property. Fine jewellery felt like a natural medium for the couple, who wanted to create pieces that could endure for years, even generations.

“With fine jewellery, it’s not as throwaway as fashion accessories. The trends don’t move so fast, and people keep the pieces for much longer. For generations, sometimes,” Afzal explained

After graduating from university in 2014, the duo began taking on commissions and design consulting work from home through a studio they called Proper People—which still operates today and handles State Property’s branding—to fund State Property’s first collection. 

A year later, they launched State Property.

Crafting jewellery across continents

Where traditional jewellers start with a beautiful stone and design around it, State Property does the opposite and prioritises the concept of the piece, then sees what material best fits.

Their vision, as the founders put it, is to strike a balance between minimalism and maximalism—inspired by the 20th-century design style Art Deco, which is characterised by modern materials in symmetry. 

A new collection can take anywhere from six months to a year to develop, with each treated as a living body of work. New pieces tied to the same theme are introduced over subsequent seasons, while designs that no longer fit are gradually retired. 

Today, State Property has seven collections spanning fine jewellery for both men and women.

Prices start at S$750 for a single 14-karat gold and diamond earring, while pieces from the brand’s anniversary Story of Everything collection range from S$4,980 for a toadstool pendant to S$11,650 for the Railroad Diamond Bracelet. Bespoke commissions and special edition pieces can cost significantly more.

The creative process involves collaborative brainstorming by the duo and prototyping, which ranges from Ruiyin’s sketches to creating wax models worn for scale and comfort, before anything goes up for final production.

Eventually, all final pieces are made in 18-karat gold, with production split across a trusted network of workshops in Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Italy, and elsewhere, each chosen for specific techniques. 

Diamonds are cut in India; gemstones are sourced from Sri Lanka and Brazil. For bespoke commissions involving a client’s own stone, the casting, enamelling, and stone-setting may each happen in different locations—with the final setting done by local artisans in Singapore, so the founders maintain direct oversight of the gemstone at every stage.

Every collection balances accessible everyday pieces with more experimental designs that Afzal knows may be slower to sell—but those, he’s found, generate the most excitement and allow the duo to push their creative boundaries. 

“That’s what keeps the brand moving the needle.”

Building credibility from scratch

For the first couple of years, growth was slow and almost entirely organic. The two knew how to design, and they knew how to make a brand look good. Everything else, from pricing to strategy and managing a team, had to be learned on the job.

Pricing, in particular, was a sticking point early on. The most expensive pieces from that first 2015 collection went for around S$3,000. Even that felt bold at the time. 

“Asking someone to pay S$3,000 for our work? Who wants to spend that here?” Afzal recalled thinking. 

The brand’s first real turning point came in 2017, when State Property won the Emerging Accessories Designer of the Year at the Singapore Fashion Awards. 

One of the judges was Tina Tan-Leo, a veteran of Singapore’s fashion retail industry, who offered some perspective that neither founder had considered. “She basically said, ‘Guys, your stuff is good to go international. Why aren’t you there?’” 

Tina went on to mentor the State Property for six months, reworking pricing, laying out processes for export, and crucially introducing them to the wider world of independent designer jewellers. 

“She was the key for us to put State Property on this international trajectory,” Afzal said.

From there, the brand entered the US market first, then the Middle East a couple of years later. The couple landed their first celebrity placement with Nicole Kidman wearing State Property earrings to the premiere of Boy Erased in 2018. 

Ruiyin had described the moment as “surreal”: seeing something that started as an idea in a sketchbook worn by one of the world’s most recognisable women on a red carpet.

From there, the list grew to a degree that still seems improbable for a Singapore business: Rihanna, Gigi Hadid and Florence Pugh, among others.

For a label with no family connections in the industry and no established country reputation to lean on, the cultural legitimacy this provided was transformative. 

“If you say you’re a jewellery brand from Singapore, people internationally aren’t sure what that means,” Afzal said. “We had to build that trust ourselves.” 

In 2021, that trust was further cemented when State Property became the first Singaporean fine jewellery label on global luxury e-commerce Net-A-Porter.

Getting onto the main street

For most of State Property’s early years, discovery came through word-of-mouth, Instagram, and appointments only.

The brand participated in Boutique Fairs starting in 2018, and had a consignment presence at Tangs Plaza from 2019 to 2021—both useful for visibility, but limited in reach. 

However, the audiences at these places were accustomed to affordably priced goods, not 18-karat gold and diamond fine jewellery. 

That changed with brick-and-mortar retail. State Property opened its Armenian Street atelier in early 2021, followed by a boutique at Takashimaya Shopping Centre in Sep 2022. 

The foot traffic proved what no amount of digital marketing could replicate for the luxury jewellery brand. Back then, local and international sales were roughly even. Today, Singapore has become the stronger half.

Internationally, State Property now sits in approximately 20 retailers across Hong Kong, Japan, North America, the UK, and the Middle East, including Dover Street Market London, Moda Operandi, Goop, and most recently a trunk show at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. 

Cracking those markets wasn’t just about getting stocked, it required genuinely understanding how people in different climates and cultures dress.

“In Singapore, we don’t have seasons that affect how we dress,” Afzal said. “But in temperate climates, there are considerations that don’t come to us naturally—what earrings work when you’re wearing a scarf, whether you’d even wear a bracelet if you need gloves.”

The research meant travelling to each market, observing what people were actually buying and wearing, and only partnering with retailers whose values aligned with the brand’s. “We’re fortunate to have caught the eyes of key retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue and Goop,” Afzal said.

The team today numbers about 10, and has grown to become a family affair: Afzal’s brother handles the finances, his sister-in-law manages retail partnerships, and a childhood friend of Ruiyin’s oversees manufacturing.

Building a premium brand in Singapore

State Property’s clientele is made up of people typically in their late 30s to 40s, who tend to be culturally driven and already well-versed in luxury jewellery. These are customers who own pieces from Cartier, Van Cleef, and Tiffany, and are looking for something that sits alongside that collection rather than duplicating it.

Most of its business also comes from returning clients. The brand does not chase volume. “We celebrate every sale,” Afzal has said, “because each one means so much to us and goes a long way in helping us build the brand we envision.” It is built, deliberately, on relationships.

In Jul, State Property will take part in the Singapore International Jewellery Expo, along with Singapore Diamond and Jewellery Week and the World Diamond Congress. The brand will mark the event with new designs and an art collaboration with local mushroom growers, using mycelium to create jewellery displays.

Afzal and Ruiyin are also interested in exploring adjacent categories. 

In 2019, State Property was invited to customise a Qeeboo Rabbit Chair for a group installation at design fair Saturday Indesign. They styled it with a pearl necklace and earring, keeping true to their jewellery aesthetic even on a piece of furniture. The chairs were later auctioned to raise funds for the Children’s Cancer Foundation.

Their measure of success has shifted over time. 

“When we started, success looked like recognition—getting into the right stores, having press coverage, being seen,” Afzal said. “But now success is when a piece we made becomes part of someone’s life, when we become the go-to brand for a client’s jewellery needs, or when clients come to us to commemorate deeply personal moments.”

For founders looking to build something premium from Singapore, Afzal advised not to shortchange any part of it.

“The brand has to be built holistically—from how it’s presented online all the way to your after-sales service,” he said. “There is nowhere within that where you can drop the ball.”

• Find out more about State Property here.
• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Featured Image Credit: State Property