Chinese jeweler to exhibit at 5th CIIE next month

SHINE | 21-Oct-2022 | By Tan Weiyun

Chinese artist Wallace Chan will participate in the 5th China International Import Expo in Shanghai next month with “EarthlyUnearthly,” his largest solo exhibition on the Chinese mainland. In 2010, he held a solo exhibition, “From Heaven Brought the Craftsmanship of a Soul,” at the Capital Museum in Beijing.

More than 150 pieces of jewelry designed by Chan will be on display at the Shanghai exhibition. It will include the sculpture and brooch “Stilled Life,” which wowed Paris in 2012, as well as a video art project made in partnership with multidisciplinary Spanish artist Javier Ideami. The artist himself curated the exhibition, from the jewelry creations to the display installation and lighting, “employing earthy materials to express otherworldliness.”

The “Stilled Life” cicada brooch and sculpture, made of imperial jadeite, rubies and colored diamonds, is the main attraction. It will be displayed for the first time on the Chinese mainland and will be the exhibit with the highest declared value in the expo’s history. A luxurious green jade (15.5×17.10mm) is placed in the cicada’s embrace, and a cabochon lavender jade (13.5×14.70mm) is the surprise. The cicada’s body is made of exquisite jade of imperial grade, and its wings are crafted wafer-thin. The process of mortising and tenoning is used to implant jade beads.

Chan’s patent in 2002 for an invention that thins jade and increases luminosity is responsible for the cicada’s startling green color. The butterfly serves as the inspiration for the Pupa ring, which is composed of titanium, Wallace Chan Porcelain, aquamarine, rubellite, sapphire, diamond and tsavorite garnet.

Wallace Chan Porcelain, which is extremely strong, is used to create the organically curved base. The layers of the various jewels combine to form a sloping curve. The ring’s centerpiece is a massive aquamarine, which is surrounded by sapphires, rubellites, garnets and garnets with trillion cuts. All the gemstones are droplets, with delicate ropes of diamonds and titanium framing them.

Over the past five decades, Chan has created a wide range of innovations, including The Wallace Cut (1987), an illusionary three-dimensional carving technique; mastery of titanium in jewelry-making (2007); a patented jadeite luminosity-enhancing technology (2002); the development of elaborate gemstone settings without metal claws (2000s), the enigmatic Secret Abyss (2014), in which more than 1,000 emeralds were set inside a block of rutilated quartz through a 6.5-millimeter opening, and The Wallace Chan Porcelain (2018), a material five times harder than steel.

Chan is the first Chinese jewelry creator to have his work displayed at prestigious art exhibitions such as the Biennale des Antiquaires (2012 and 2014), Masterpiece London (2016 and 2017) and The European Fine Art Fair (2016-2021). He is also the first contemporary Chinese jeweler whose work is featured in the British Museum’s permanent collection.

His works can be found in China’s Capital Museum (2010) and Ningbo Museum’s permanent collections (2010). Chan has established a significant international reputation as the person who pioneered the road and introduced Chinese jewelry art to the globe.