Taipei Travel

TAIPEI #37 (2024 Autumn)

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Silver and Stone DIY Class
Discovering the Art of Jewelry Making in Dadaocheng

TEXT　Hollie Younger
PHOTOS　Vision

Unleash your creativity at MixGene Jewelry Studio! Craft a unique souvenir to commemorate your Taipei visit, design a heartfelt gift for someone special, or indulge yourself with a personalized piece for your collection.


Dihua Street, situated in the city's heritage-rich Dadaocheng neighborhood, is among the most popular destinations with tourist visitors to Taipei. It is renowned for the Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple, a plethora of shophouses selling traditional dried goods and Chinese herbal medicine, and the bustling market of the Taipei Lunar New Year Festival held annually before the Spring Festival. Nearby, Dadaocheng Wharf features a trendy container market and is considered one of the best spots in Taipei for enjoying a riverside sunset. 

Down a quiet side street off Dihua Street is MixGene Jewelry Studio, which specializes in the crafting of bespoke handmade rings, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. MixGene was founded by Nada Xie in 2015, and the current location of the studio was opened in 2022. The studio offers private classes conducted under the knowledgeable guidance of skilled silversmiths. There are two options, a metalworking class during which you can hammer and chisel away at silver and brass, and the experience a friend and I opted for during a recent visit, a gemstone ring class. 


The class, lasting somewhere between 90 minutes and two hours, is suitable for beginners and the not-so-artistically inclined. The instructor provides easy-to-follow instructions and can step in if clumsy fingers need a helping hand. My friend, who has studied ceramics, is a dab hand at anything artsy. I, on the other hand, am a complete crafting novice who failed art class. Nevertheless, after just two hours we both came away with pieces to be proud of, and I had surprised myself with my newfound creativity.


Nada welcomed us into the relaxing, green, air-conditioned oasis of her three-story studio atelier  and introduced us to Jenna, the instructor for our session. Entering the silver sanctuary, we first stopped to peruse the second-floor showroom to garner some inspiration before heading up to the third-floor gemstone workshop. After donning our craftsmen's aprons, we picked our gemstones. The experience included one larger and four to five smaller stones, with shimmering square-cut green zircon and smoky oval-shaped spinel available. I selected a triangle-cut amber corundum with vibrant turquoise to contrast. My friend opted for a heart-shaped topaz and sparkling white gems.


Then it was time to get to work. We measured our ring sizes and were each given a ball of silver clay to roll into a 7cm-long sausage. It was hard to believe we would turn this unassuming clay into sparkling silver jewelry in less than two hours.

We shaped our clay strips around a ceramic cylinder and began the fiddly process of picking up each tiny gemstone and setting them into the band with a firm push. Next, we customized the texture of our rings, dabbing wet paintbrushes into the still-unset clay to create a mottled surface, giving them a boho hand-made finish.


After this, the most exciting part: fire! We took up handheld blowtorches, and the blue flames removed any moisture from the clay, leaving our clay rings solid hard and silver-pure. Once the rings stopped steaming into the Korean-BBQ-style ventilators set up above, Jenna took them to dry and finish.


Later, she handed us back brownish-grey rings of clay. We gently sanded away the dusty exterior, revealing shimmering silver and sparkling gemstones. Our works of art were complete! Jenna and Nada then presented us with beautiful metal gift boxes, and our jewelry was ready to take home. My friend had some new bling to add to her bejeweled fingers, and I had handcrafted a unique treasure for my partner, made with love and jewels picked just for her. 


MixGene can provide anything from one-on-one instructions to classes with up to a dozen participants, ideal for teambuilding events, tour groups, and parties. Nada told me that many couples come for the experience; it's a perfect date-night idea. MixGene also welcomes families; the minimum age for metalworking is 8 and for the gemstone class 11. Instructions are available in Chinese, English, and Spanish. All experiences include refreshments and two free maintenance visits per year.


MixGene Jewelry Studio 混合基因
🚩2F, 4, Minle St., Datong Dist.
🔗mixgene.easy.co

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Dadaocheng | 大稻埕
Taipei Lunar New Year Festival | 台北年貨大街
Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple | 台北霞海城隍廟