Chinese designers are tapping into traditional elements in order to boost creativity and their presence on the international jewelry stage. Gan Tian reports
Chinese art jewelry designers are shining on the world's fashion stage by emphasizing their culture.
Taiwan's Cindy Chao has an ongoing jewelry exhibition in Beijing's luxurious Yintai Center. With dark walls, dimmed lights and small passage ways, the venue's dark and intimate setting provides privacy for her customers, who include political figures from the Middle East, movie stars from the United States, and local billionaires.
Chao made her name with the "Four Season" collection, which was auctioned for $75,000, at Christie's New York, in 2007.
Comprising four pieces, the collection highlights nature's seasons with four giant diamonds shaped into branches, leaves, and flowers.
Her Royal Butterfly brooch graced the front page of the bible of fashion, Women's Wear Daily, which described her jewelry as having a "butterfly effect" on world design. She was invited to Selfridges for an exhibition in London, and to open a shop there.
The colors and smooth lines of her creations are typical of imperial Chinese jewelry. Last year, inspired by traditional hand-held fans, she designed The Majestic Beauty Fan, composed of 2,399 diamonds weighing 310.27 carats.
She says she understands the spirit of Chinese elements.
"It is not necessarily dragon or phoenix patterns. It is how to make a jewelry piece alive. That needs observation, long-time study, and patience, which I gained from my parents," Chao says.
Chao was taught by her father, a sculptor, to "pay attention to every detail of life", while she inherits her talent for commerce from her mother, a businesswoman.
"Compared with Westerners, we have a better history of jewelry design. You should take a close look at jewelry made for the imperial families in the Tang (AD 618-907) and Qing dynasties (1644-1911). They paid a lot of attention to details. As a Chinese jewelry artist, this is what we should stick to: making every tiny part of our work come alive," Chao says.
Anna Hu, also from Taiwan, has been formally trained in the arts since she was 4 years old, including playing the piano and cello.
Hu's logo is a picture combining her surname's character and five bats, one of the characters for which means "fortune" in Chinese. Most of her famous creations are inspired by stories and legends related to China.
Her latest earrings and rings are based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Turandot, in which a beautiful Chinese princess has three questions for her suitors. If they cannot answer them, they are sentenced to death.
Hu uses a sapphire, a ruby, and an emerald to illustrate the answers: "hope", "blood", and "love". The main character, the Chinese princess, is created out of agate, which represents power, beauty, but also cruelty.
Hu says she often seeks inspiration from Chinese paintings and pictures. Her necklace Dancing Crane was inspired by the cranes drawn by former emperor Huizong (1082-1135), who was famous for his art, calligraphy, and music.
Hu's clients include Madonna, Oprah Winfrey, Drew Barrymore and other Hollywood stars.
Hong Kong's Dennis Chan founded his brand, Qeelin, six years ago, and he already has boutiques in Paris, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo.
Chan's first significant creation was a white gold calabash-shaped necklace. It became a popular item when Maggie Cheung wore it at the 2004 Cannes Festival.
He made the calabash his brand's symbol and has also crafted earrings, bracelets and fine watches in this shape. "Calabash is a typically Chinese shape, like the number 8, which means fortune here," Chan says.
Bobo is a panda necklace. Chan loves collecting Bearbrick toys and wondered why there was not a similar toy with a typical Chinese symbol. That's why he designed Bobo.
Ling Long is a necklace with several bells. He met a girl in Yunnan province who wore bells all over her dress. The girl told him, in her tribe, the sounds of bells drives misfortune away. Chan had a brainwave and put a diamond in a bell, making it into a necklace.
"Usually, the (buyer) wants to see the diamonds. But I want them to hear the diamonds instead. That is my bell. Customers cannot even see it. It makes this item mysterious, but luxurious."
Chan insists on creating something modern based on traditional Chinese elements, partly because his brand was inspired by a Silk Road trip he took in 1997. "We received a Western education from a young age, so I had no knowledge about the mainland before Hong Kong returned to China in 1997," Chan says.
The Dunghuang Grottoes amazed him. For the first time he understood his country's culture was a treasure house. Seven years later, Qeelin was born. "I am grateful there are many things in our culture I can use in jewelry design. But we have to rejuvenate them, make them modern, and give them new meaning in this age."
From Fortune to Cape diamonds
Typical Chinese: Xi Fu (Fortune)
The World Gold Council, in cooperation with China's jewelry apartment store Caibai, recently produced Xi Fu gold earrings, rings, and necklaces, for newly wedded couples and mothers.
In Chinese tradition, mothers will pass on a family heirloom to their daughters when they get married. The Xi Fu series promotes this idea of "passing jewelry from generation to generation," with some phoenix, flower and bell patterns to illustrate feminine beauty.
Casual style: Folli Follie
Women's fashion brand Folli Follie produced its latest spring summer 2010 collection, with several jewelry series to cater to those girls who want to enjoy a cool summer this year.
The "Oh la la!" series is inspired by Saint Tropez, in France. The necklaces, bracelets, earrings and rings are made of silver, shells and coral. The colors are bright orange, green, and pink.
There are bells in the "Siren" necklaces and bracelets. When the breeze blows, they produce melodies. The earrings of black diamonds, however, are in the shape of tears. Some turquoises are used in the "Ipanema" series to create a Bohemian style.
From South Africa: Enzo
Enzo introduced the Chinese market to diamonds from Cape Town. Compared with diamonds from other parts of South Africa, Enzo Cape Diamonds are more delicately cut.
Enzo believes its new products will be loved by thousands of emerging middle class consumers in the mainland. "Diamonds are the hardest stones, but also have a shimmering light. That is why I love diamonds, and Enzo Cape Diamond collect luck at the Cape of Good Hope," said Singaporean actor Leon Jay Williams, who appeared at Enzo's PR event.
Home-grown inspirations
Chinese jewelry designers are no longer just copying their international peers, instead they are creating original works that are inspired by the country's traditions.
Xie Guojun, for instance, turns an ancient Chinese compass, into a glamorous ring. A spoon-like pointer made from 18-carat gold, rests on a spiral of 18-carat white gold embedded with more than 200 small diamonds.
Called Directing the ring won Xie second prize in the Cocktail Dress group of the 6th China Jewelry Design Contest, in January. This is a national level competition hosted by the Gems and Jewelry Trade Association of China (GAC), and National Gems and Jewelry Technology Administrative Center (NGTC).
Like Xie, the other 66 winners have all drawn inspiration from Chinese culture, including ink-wash dragon style scarf clips, necklace pendants with lyrics from Songs of Chu, and a phoenix-shaped hair accessory.
Works ranged from formal attire to cocktail dresses, casual wear to business suits and sports gear, which gave room for designers to extend their talents, says head judge Wang Chunli.
Wang believes the country's design creativity has improved during the past four years.
"We used to copy what's popular on the international market. We used to have no original style. Now we're running closer to world-class design. I believe 'Created in China' will replace 'Made in China'," Wang says.
NGTC vice-president Ke Jie says the country's jewelry design industry is at a primary stage because it started just 20 years ago. She believes designers now have an opportunity to shine because of the global economy.
"Chinese consumption of jewelry has steadily risen since 2009. The financial crisis has changed consumers' ideas. Jewelry offers a more stable and longer-lasting investment," Ke says.
Both Wang and Ke believe more manufacturers are using their own designers and this is raising the level of design and improving Chinese brands.
Bai Jingyi, a Beijing handicraft master and judge of the competition since it began, says some works used to look good on paper but couldn't be manufactured because the designers lacked practical experience.
Bai calls for a combination of craftsmanship and up-to-date design.
"I'm excited by the better-made pieces this year. Some of the (designers) have even applied traditional skills to modern design," Bai says.
The traditional royal filigree inlay craftsperson says there's no limit to the amount of inspiration to be found in traditional Chinese design.
"We have 56 ethnic groups and (many) dynasties, each of them have developed a unique decorative and artistic style. The richness of Chinese culture is an inexhaustible mine."
Bai says she's constantly inspired by the legacy of Chinese arts.
