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# Bead by Bead
- URL: https://www.t-o-n-g.co/gianara-bead-by-bead/
- Published: 2026-11-01T09:27:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T03:31:04.000Z
- Description: What passes between them.
- Author: TONG
- Tags: Craft, The Page, #framed

We met Gianara through Sarah, one of the sisters behind Salt Salon. She showed us a few pieces, and we were immediately won over. The bags were intricate without being fussy. The closer we looked, the more there was to see. Every bead was set by hand, in shapes that felt classic and also slightly unexpected.

So we asked to meet the women behind them. Lydia co-founded Gianara in 2019 with Irene, an artisan whose beadwork had first caught her eye. Her daughter, Angel, joined later and now works alongside her. We talked about design and craft, and about working as a mother-daughter pair. As mothers of daughters ourselves, we were struck most by the closeness between Lydia and Angel: the way they finished each other’s sentences, teased each other over whose shoes got borrowed, and so plainly cared for each other.

## **In conversation**

*This conversation draws on our filmed interview and Lydia and Angel’s written answers. It has been edited and condensed for clarity.*

**How did Gianara begin?**

**Lydia:** With a personal journey, really. I was trying to understand who I am. Through my faith, I learnt that my worth isn't defined by achievement or appearance or other people's opinions, but by knowing I am deeply loved by God. That changed me. I wanted to make something that helps women discover their own worth, and to give other women a way to build confidence through their craft.

**Why did you choose to work with beads?**

**Lydia:** That came from my business partner, Irene. I met her when I was getting married. I'd bought my wedding dress overseas and it was very simple, so she altered it to fit me and added beading for the Indonesian celebration. I admired her work so much that I kept persuading her: let's do something together, and not just wedding dresses. She has always worked with beads, and still does. Now we're adding more modern materials too, especially when we collaborate with other brands.

**Angel:** Do you still have the dress?

**Lydia:** No. Your grandma gave it away. It was taking up space in the wardrobe.

**Angel:** I'll keep mine, then.

**Where are the pieces made?**

**Lydia:** In our garage at home. That's where the workshop started, and we're still a small team, about five of us. We source our beads locally. The women who make the pieces are part of Gianara's identity. The work needs detail and precision, and the skills take years to develop. Most came to us with basic handwork skills, and we trained them to do something more detailed and elevated. Every piece has its own character. Even when we remake a design, it comes out a little different, and we don't want exact copies anyway. If we repeat a design, it's in a new colour or material.

**Angel:** It's a labour of love from every woman there. One piece can take hours, sometimes days. They sample again and again until the look is right. That's why we don't release collections on a schedule. It's not about churning things out.

![Close view of a hand-beaded Gianara bag in deep blue, held up against a white grid.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e7/e1/e7e1a462-10e9-44ef-b5f0-176a3a3470f7/content/images/2026/10/Gianara_3.jpg)

**Every bead is set by hand.*

**Angel, where did your love of fashion come from?**

**Angel:** From Mum. When I was very young, I used to take clothes from her closet and wear them for fun, probably while she was at the office.

**Lydia:** I didn't know that.

**Angel:** Now you do.

**What did Gianara look like from the outside, before you were involved?**

Angel: Honestly, I didn't know much. Mum came home one day and said she wanted to start a brand with Irene, and I thought, okay, interesting. At first I just saw beautiful pieces that stood apart from the mass market. Only after I started helping, at fairs, setting up booths, developing products, spending time with the team, did I see how much goes into it. Prototypes, sourcing, R&D, all before you get to one bag.

Lydia: Angel first came in on our brand identity and direction. Now that we're growing in Singapore, she helps on the operations side too.

**What changed between you once Angel joined?**

**Lydia:** I keep learning from her. Even though I'm the mother, I can always learn from her, because she brings a younger, more modern perspective to the same vision. That's good for the brand.

**Angel:** I don't think our relationship changed much. We both just want to make the brand better. What I value is that my opinions are heard. There's no pride, no hurt feelings. We share, we work things out, and we make nice things for people.

> “Even though I’m the mother, I can always learn from her.”  
> – Lydia

**What do you understand about each other without having to say it?**

**Lydia:** Our standards. We know what we want for the brand, and we know we aren't building it for ourselves. We're thinking of the woman it's for.

**Angel:** And similar taste, which makes it easier. We have the same sense of what's nice and what isn't. We even share shoes, clothes, bags, though I don't live with her anymore.

**Lydia:** You borrow mine. I don't borrow yours.

![Lydia and Angel of Gianara on a white sofa, both in black.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e7/e1/e7e1a462-10e9-44ef-b5f0-176a3a3470f7/content/images/2026/10/Gianara_1.jpg)

**Same taste, down to the sandals.*

**What's the hardest part?**

**Lydia:** Separating the business from being mother and daughter. We've had to learn to respect each other's strengths and give each other room to lead.

**Angel:** For me, patience. Our pieces take a long time to make, so you wait a long time to see something through. That's less about Mum and more the nature of the work.

**So where do you draw the line?**

**Lydia:** A business is still a business. When we're working, it's professional. When we're not, we go back to being mother and daughter, though we can always talk things over.

**Angel:** We draw that line quite clearly.

**Did either of you surprise the other?**

**Angel:** Mum's resilience. Whatever we face, she never says, "Enough, let's quit." She finds a solution that still stays true to who we are. And she isn't the most extroverted person, so watching her set up our whole booth at the Boutiques fair in Singapore, stay there for days talking to so many people, then pack it all down: that was a side of her I hadn't seen much.

**Lydia:** I'd say the same of her. Angel surprises me with her resilience. She has taught me to stay curious, and open to new ways of thinking.

**Is there a phrase that has stayed with you?**

**Lydia:** Be true to ourselves. Don't follow trends, or what people say we should do or who we should be. Go back to why we started, which is to empower other women.

**Angel:** We do everything for God, to glorify Him. That's the goal underneath everything.

**Is there something in how you work that feels distinctly Indonesian, or Asian?**

**Lydia:** Indonesians are generally kind and generous, and that's how we treat our artisans: as family. When one of them faced a medical emergency in her family, we helped as much as we could, because she is part of ours.

**Angel:** Warmth and family. We care for the people first. We don't only look at the business; we care about what's happening in their lives too.

**Lydia:** And humility, respect for heritage, attention to detail. Our woman is confident but doesn't need to be loud. She carries her heritage with her into modern life.

![Gianara pieces laid out on white: beaded floral necklaces, bags and corded straps.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e7/e1/e7e1a462-10e9-44ef-b5f0-176a3a3470f7/content/images/2026/10/Gianara_4.jpg)

**Pieces from the Gianara workshop.*

**What would you tell a mother and daughter thinking of starting something together?**

Lydia: Be professional and know your boundaries. But after work, keep the relationship, so you keep learning from each other and growing together.

**How do you see this relationship evolving?**

Angel: We're becoming more like friends. We like the same things and share the same things. I hope I keep learning and growing with you.

**Lydia:** For me, that's the greatest gift of working together. We are constantly learning from each other, rather than one generation passing down to the next.

**Anything you'd like to say to each other?**

Angel: I'm just really proud of you, and proud that you're my mum.

Lydia: I thank God for you. You are the most beautiful gift He has given me.

![Lydia fastening a beaded necklace on Angel.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e7/e1/e7e1a462-10e9-44ef-b5f0-176a3a3470f7/content/images/2026/10/Gianara_5.jpg)

**Lydia and Angel.*

---

TONG was inspired by Nüshu, a script once used only by women in Jiangyong County, Hunan. It passed between women who sang and embroidered together: sisters, sworn sisters, mothers and the daughters they sent off to marry. It was stitched into cloth, written on fans and bound into small books of songs for new brides. It gave women a way to tell each other what they could not easily say elsewhere. Lydia and Angel have a version of their own: a shared sense of what is right for Gianara, rarely spelt out, always understood.

What struck us first was how little Lydia and Angel need to explain to each other. Standards, taste, when to push and when to give way: it is already understood.

What moved us more is that it runs both ways. Lydia gave Angel her standards, and a wardrobe to raid. Angel keeps her mother curious, and has watched a quiet woman hold court at a fair for days. Asked what surprised them, each named the same thing in the other. The roles keep shifting: mother and daughter, then colleagues, then something closer to friends. Neither pretends it is effortless. They have had to learn where the business ends and the family begins.

The wedding dress Irene once beaded for Lydia was given away years ago, to free up space in a wardrobe. Angel has already decided to keep hers. But what matters most between these two was never going to fit in a cupboard: the standards, the taste, the resilience, the faith. And as Lydia says, none of it only travels one way. It keeps passing between them, back and forth, bead by bead.

Gianara is stocked in Indonesia and Singapore. Follow them on Instagram [@shopgianara](https://www.instagram.com/shopgianara/?ref=t-o-n-g.co).

Find themGianara, Jakarta  
[@shopgianara](https://www.instagram.com/shopgianara/?ref=t-o-n-g.co)