Chinese technology, Italian design give birth to first smart jewelry brand

MILAN - "Its uniqueness is that first of all it is a jewel. But we have added smart technology inside it," Wang Jieming, a Chinese mobile Internet entrepreneur, told Xinhua as his innovative jewelry brand made its world debut here earlier this week.

Totwoo is the world's first jewelry brand with a mobile Internet-based functions and wearable technology to express emotion.

Since Google Glasses brought in a new concept of "wearable device" years ago, there have been various gadgets introduced, said Wang, with the mobile Internet startup company VIVA.

However, the design innovation and fashion spirit of Totwoo highlights the aesthetic style of the jewelry, he pointed out.

Furthermore, Totwoo introduced series, or collections, instead of a single product model of wearable device.

"We thought of jewels as a sign of love. They represent peoples' hopes and desires. Therefore, we worked hard to make them able to communicate care and feelings," Wang told Xinhua.

Totwoo has distinctive functions of "body and emotion" care, according to Wang. Not only does it have a pedometer, calorie consumption, sedentary reminder and UV monitoring, it can also communicate with other paired jewelry-wearers by tapping or shaking the jewelry.

"The jewelry of the one who receives the message will flash and vibrate. Messages may vary from 'I miss you' to 'I am sorry.' In short, it is a tacit understanding between two people," Wang said.

The co-founder of the brand, Marco Dal Maso, is Italian and has designed the first two series. "We created this product based on ideas that seemed completely different one from each other at first, but perfectly cohesive in the end," he told Xinhua.

Dal Maso and his family have been in the jewelry industry for many years. "I wanted something able to go beyond simple jewelry, and finally we found it by transforming traditional jewelry into smart jewelry with Totwoo," he said.

The first series of products "We Bloom," made of silver and Swarovski crystal with classic Italian Baroque floral style, feature pendant necklaces in five colors and bracelets of gold and silver colors, and will be open to preorder globally next week.

Other leading figures will be invited to join the designer platform built by Totwoo and to participate in the product design.