Our Story
Tippy Taste
Old-world romance, unusual natural gemstones and sculptural goldwork. Jewelry for collectors drawn to pieces that feel discovered rather than ordinary.
Meet the Designer
Tippy Hung
Tippy Taste is the work of one designer. Tippy Hung was born in Taiwan and grew up between Singapore, China and Paris.
Jewelry became personal in her last year of college, in a class on the history of jewelry that introduced her to the long history of self-adornment. Historical ornament, and jewelry as a form of self-expression, have shaped her work since.
She studied at Parsons and the Fashion Institute of Technology, designed for Swarovski, and interned with the jewelry houses Miriam Haskell and Lulu Frost.
Today she designs every Tippy Taste piece in Miami.
“From Byzantine ornament to Rococo excess, jewelry has always been a language of self-expression.”
Tippy Hung
The Beginning
2014
A Small Box of Jewels
Tippy Taste began in 2014 as a monthly jewelry subscription: a small box of two or three pieces, chosen and styled each month.
In 2017 the work moved into fine jewelry, made in 14K and 18K solid gold. The pieces were still delicate, but now they called for natural stones and real settings, and the direction of the house changed.
The Design
A Language of Our Own
The Tippy Taste look did not arrive fully formed. It came through designing: pencil sketches reworked for weeks, wax models, castings polished and finished.
Piece by piece the same instincts returned: pointed arches and tracery, leaves and scrolls, vintage proportions, and a preference for the unusual stone over the expected one.
An early pencil sketch.
From wax to cast gold.
In production: molds and wax.
Gemstones
Led by the Stone
Many Tippy Taste pieces begin with a single gemstone: a color combination not seen before, or a cut that will not sit in a standard setting. The stone sets the mood. The design follows.
A green-and-yellow parti-sapphire became the Celestial ring.
A custom-cut salt & pepper hexagon diamond, set into the Frozen design.
An alexandrite shifting between purple and blue, set into the Coco ring.
Goldwork
Beyond the Center Stone
At Tippy Taste the setting is never just a way to hold a stone. It is architecture. Turn a ring to the side and the design continues, and this is where a Tippy Taste piece becomes recognizable.
Gothic Marquise
Gold tracery drawn from cathedral windows.
Frozen
Fans of pavé in Art Deco lines.
Ocean
An open band that rises toward the stone.
Inspiration
Worlds of Inspiration
Each collection starts from one reference and follows it through gold and stone.
Tippy Taste Signature
The Signatures
Some designs are returned to again and again. A Signature is a recognizable Tippy Taste form, reinterpreted through different stones, colors and small variations while its architecture stays the same.
Chapters
Chapters of Tippy Taste
A monthly box
Tippy Taste begins as a jewelry subscription box.
Into solid gold
The first fine jewelry pieces, in 14K and 18K gold. Early work appears in Harper's Bazaar UK and Elle UK.
Frozen
Frozen first appears: the Art Deco hexagon that became a Signature.
The Wishing-Well Ruby
The Wishing-Well Ruby Ring wins a Silver A' Design Award.
One of a Kind
One of a Kind pieces become a collector practice: one stone, one ring, and once it is gone, it is gone.
The Rockefeller Rock Crystal
The Rockefeller Rock Crystal Diamond Ring wins a Bronze A' Design Award. Gothic Midnight and Ocean take shape.
New worlds
Van Gogh, then Day & Night. The Signatures are named.
Where the work happens
Designed in Miami
Every Tippy Taste piece is designed by Tippy Hung in Miami, beginning with a sketch and a choice of stone.
Crafted in New York
Each piece is made to order and crafted in New York.
Today
The Story Continues
Today Tippy Taste is a small, designer-led jewelry house: Signature designs made to order, One of a Kind pieces built around a single stone, and collections drawn from art, architecture and light.
The references are old. The collectors are modern.
Made to be discovered. Made to be kept.
