Vancouver B.C.-born, Rhode Island School of Design-schooled Wing Yau is the consummate New York City designer. Given to highly individualized monochromatic outfits and intelligent conversations about negative space, ethical sourcing, form, function, and end users, thefounder makes fine, edgy jewelry that is as immediately engaging as she is.

And yet as seriously as she takes her design process, she actually sees you as the ultimate designer. She may negotiate the arches and angles and oversee the production and fabrication of solid gold, opals, sapphires and more, but it's up to you to compose how they fit on your body.

Still though, as quietly chic and artfully cool as she is, you can't help but want to follow her lead.

Among Wing's most covetable and popular styles are her rings, and here's where a lot of that negative space comes into play. Many of then aren't complete circles; they leave space for really interesting shapes to happen as you arrange and rearrange them.

Wing wears them in a fairly minimal way, but fans and followers have been known to go all-out. She also often offers what she calls signature pairings-think: pre-made mix-matched 'sets'-but what excites her most is when clients add their own signatures.

It's actually right in line with her studio practice; she has an open door policy, and says that a lot of valuable exchange happens when clients see where and how she and her crew work-and when the team gets to interact with the folks who really love what they produce. New from that open studio: this constellation-like series (below), which allows for new ways to mix and mingle to maximize sparkle and personal style.

Here's Wing sharing her thoughts on how pop culture and social media fosters the idea of user-as-designer, and why the process appeals so much to her.

http://blogs.nordstrom.com/fashion/files/2016/02/Wwake.m4a

The concept works just as well with earrings and other styles, of course, and again it's hard not to want to take her lead. On this particular Thursday, Wing wore both pieces of a set in her right ear and one of her opal circles, plus a stud, in the left ear.

Raul, Sarah, and Wing picked out some beautiful pieces for the next delivery of Wwake at SPACE; you're encouraged to come in and play designer.

-Laura Cassidy