Yueh-Wen Chang (Wen) of Sora Designs knew from a young age her path in life should be in the arts, but opted for a career in academics. She eventually got her Ph.D. in early intervention from the Joint Doctoral Program at U.C. Berkeley and San Francisco State University. While in the graduate school, Wen started making jewelry as an innocent creative outlet for her mom, sisters and friends. Her hands would always be busy sewing or knitting or wire wrapping or baking goodies if not working on her dissertation.

Sora Designs was started on a whim in the fall of 2008, after months of lurking and browsing through the Etsy site. Shockingly after a few days, an item sold and then another. The whim became an obsession and the world is never the same again. Shortly after one year, Wen quit her day job as a researcher at a government agency to design/craft/operate Sora Designs full time.

"Sora" means "sky" in Japanese. "Possibilities are as open as the sky" is the motto for Wen’s new obsession. She strives to make jewelry that are functional and stunning as well as affordable. She uses many recycled or environmentally friendly materials. Her favorite materials are vintage buttons and artifacts; vintage Lucite beads and pendants; colorful semiprecious stones; and fabrics.

Wen lives with her husband and their 6 yr old boy in the San Francisco Bay Area.

More about the life after Wen quit her day job and operating her shop full time since November 2009: Wen's husband takes all the photography of all the items in the shop since he can't be the model for the jewelry! (Yes, the model you see in these photos is Wen). With the increasing orders, Wen's friend Anny who is a stay home mom came to the rescue with business operation so all the orders will be shipped out on time.

Please check out Wen's blog at www.soradesigns.blogspot.com
Wen's Flickr photo collection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44792129@N06/
Harlen's Flickr Diary: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomichen/
Lovecoffee123 is my Etsy supplies shopping account

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