Skiing on watermelons

Ring: Qin Shupei's first jewelry collection is inspired by Greek mythologies. Photo provided to Shanghai Star

Qin, from Kaifeng, Henan province, was born to a middle-class family. Her father worked at an insurance company dealing with claims and her mother worked at the local post office.

Today, as one of the first Chinese faces to appear on international catwalks, partly thanks to the growing influence of Chinese consumers, who are the world's biggest group of luxury shoppers, Qin has been enlisted as one of the world's top income-generating models on Models.com.

"I guess I am an honest taxpayer," Qin says when asked about the list.

Having worked for "almost every fashion designer and brand I wanted", Qin is taking a step forward, designing jewelry in collaboration with Hong Kong-based jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook, another unplanned but welcome career move.

"They were looking for some fresh blood, and I always want to try my hand at design after wearing so many nice pieces,"
says Qin. She settled on jewelry as her debut into fashion design instead of shoes or bags because "it's something where you can be as wild as possible".

But the results are anything but wild. Inspired by Greek mythologies, the collection, featuring six gold and diamond pieces priced between 1,100 to 1,600 yuan($180-261), is elegant and delicate in presentation using images of olive leaves and Greek temple pillars.

"I had a little background in fashion design, but my catwalk experience may somehow help me," Qin says modestly.

When asked if she will pursue fashion design after retiring from modeling, Qin simply says she will see where the "watermelon skin" will take her next.