Our Story
We are Tae & Beth, the founders of Jai Yen and our journey started in 2019. We were both living on the beautiful tropical island of Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, where we worked as scuba diving instructors.
In 2021, the global pandemic brought unexpected changes, and we found we had plenty of free time to try new things! ​
​
​
​
Our designs were always inspired by our island lifestyle. We wanted to create jewellery that could go with you into the ocean and then into the night.​
​We’re the kind of people who put on a new piece of jewellery and leave it on, so it was important to us that the jewellery we were creating was versatile and made to last.
We kept it small in the beginning, selling to friends and family in person and through social platforms. The support from the wonderful people close to use gave us the encouragement to open our online shop.​
In mid 2021, we embarked on a new adventure and moved to the vibrant island of Koh Phangan.
​
At the same time, we found out we were expecting our daughter.
Our daughter was born in late February 2022, and she motivated us to make Jai Yen something more than just a side venture.
​
A few weeks later we attended our first Art Market in Koh Phangan, giving us the opportunity to sell our creations face to face, and gather invaluable customer feedback.
Handcrafting unique jewellery pieces, drawing inspiration from our surroundings.
Everything was brand new, and we needed to learn all about running a small business as we went along.
We began making jewellery. ​
We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from our customers, with numerous inquiries about a physical store. In November 2022, we fulfilled that demand by opening our first retail location in
Early in 2023, we journeyed to the North of Thailand to connect with local businesses and begin work on our clothing collections that you can already find in store.
We also connected with businesses in India and Nepal, to bring unique and quality products to our store.
In April 2023, we welcomed the wonderful Nangfar to the Jai Yen team as our sales assistant.
Her warm personality and friendly demeanor have made her a beloved member off our team and a favourite among our customers
In July 2023, we decided to leave Koh Phangan. While we loved the island and the opportunities it had brought us, its popularity had grown massively post covid and it no longer aligned with our goals for a place to call home.
​
We left Koh Phangan however our store remains open with Nangfar running the day to day operations!
We moved back to the Andaman sea, this time to a serene island called Koh Lanta.
In 2024, having fallen in love with Koh Lanta, we decided to make it our permanent home, buying a house here and opening our second Jai Yen store! You can find us in
​
With our online presence growing and a new store opening, we knew we needed to bring someone into the team that could help with jewellery making, the most time consuming part of the business.
In April 2024, New joined the Jai Yen family as our Koh Lanta store sales assistant and jewellery maker!
New’s attention to detail, creative flair and eye for style made her perfect for the role! Sharing a passion for island inspired jewellery, New has been working on her own designs that you can find in our recent collections!
With the extra pair of hands, we were finally able to focus on new projects and initiatives.
​
In November 2024, we started our macrame jewellery workshops at our Koh Lanta store. Teaching people how to make their own beautiful piece of jewellery and seeing how proud they are of what they’d accomplished has brought us so much joy.
We also launched ‘The Ocean Project’ a special collection of ocean inspired bracelets, with all proceeds going towards local marine conservation efforts, like coral reef rehabilitation, beach and underwater clean ups.
We are thrilled that this journey has come full circle and that we can use our platform to give back and raise money to help the same ocean that has inspired us.
We want to express our gratitude to everyone that has supported us on this incredible journey so far!
​
From our customers here in Thailand, to the corners of the world. Our supporters and fellow creators always sharing their guidance, your encouragement has been invaluable.
We’re excited to see what the future holds for Jai Yen and can’t wait to share our next chapter with you all.
'Jai yen yen' is a Thai phrase that means "relax", "take it easy" or "calm down"
jai yen ใจเย็น, literally translates as “cool heart"