About Us
Kate and Mimi is an Asian women led fine jewelry company founded by Katty Lau and Mimi Lau. Katty and Mimi are intergenerational friends who also happen to be first generation Asian American women immigrants. They met over 10 years ago as New York City downtown natives and bonded over motherhood while designing many coveted jewelry pieces together for Mimi. Katty joined her family’s jewelry business as a third generation jeweler after graduating from Parson’s School of Design. She has designed jewelry for her clients for many years, participating in international jewelry shows to discover unique stones for her stores, as well as partnering with brands such as Forevermark and Chopard. Mimi worked professionally in nutrition, floral design, and events while taking time to raise her three boys.
One afternoon over coffee, we shared honest conversations about how we’ve devoted much of our time to raising children and supporting our family’s businesses, yet neglected our individual desires for creative fulfillment and sense of independence in the process. Kate and Mimi was born from that moment on, and along with it a new and empowered sense of self. We know our abilities as moms has provided incredible training in resourcefulness that will be instrumental in meeting any challenges we may face in our business.
Kate and Mimi is inspired by our story, and many women’s stories of valuable bonds and support of sisterhood in our daily lives. We celebrate women in every season of their life in their glorious power and multifaceted brilliance like our gemstones and diamonds. Our collections embed themes of celebrating and honoring life, love, and hope. We design pieces that give a modern twist to classics and a nod to history that can span from 16th century Indian Mughal emperors to European jewelry in the 1900s. Our jewelry is designed for comfort so women can wear them with ease as they make their mark in the world before passing it down to future generations. Each piece speaks for itself in its meticulous details revealing beauty from the inside out. Many of our pendants are designed to be reversible, echoing our theme of beauty ‘inside and out’ in a single piece of jewelry.
We opened our Kate and Mimi design studio and showroom in December of 2021 to feature all of our designs in an environment that authentically expresses our brand and story.
Philanthropy
In our company’s inception, we decided to donate a portion of our proceeds to the NYC Lower Eastside Girls Club to invest in our local community’s efforts to empower girls in need and support the future women leaders, mothers, and voices in America. There has not been a safe space solely for girls to congregate, express, and receive quality enrichment free of charge until now. With each sale, we hope to support another future woman with her journey towards liberation.
Katty and Mimi have a history of community service volunteering time and money towards the causes that they care about. Katty is a former member of the NYC chapter of the Women’s Jewelry Association organising mentoring events in collaboration with GIA, and a board member of Keoni Movement Arts for children. Mimi is an active member at her church teaching Sunday School to the precious children there, and donating to various local charitable causes such as the NY Common Pantry.
Where and How It’s Made
We chose to use Forevermark diamonds for most of our first collection to provide the rarest, most beautifully crafted, and responsibly sourced diamonds in the world for our women to wear with full confidence. All of our jewelry is made with the highest standards of quality and with conflict free diamonds.