Cindy Chao The Art Jewel’s 20th Anniversary Collection features the new Four Seasons Leaf and Dragonfly brooches in an ode to the beautiful fragility of the natural world and in celebration of the jewellery artist’s decades-long career.
Cindy Chao, who founded her eponymous brand Cindy Chao The Art Jewel in 2004, possesses an unparalleled mastery of organic shapes and the ability to translate these forms into exquisitely crafted pieces. As part of the contemporary jewellery brand’s 20th anniversary celebrations, two iconic models have been launched: the Four Seasons Leaf and the Dragonfly brooch.
Among Cindy Chao’s many accolades for her artistry, the brand has been the recipient of numerous awards, as her pioneering approach bridges the gap between art and jewellery-making. In 2021, she was honoured with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Literature, making her the first Asian jewellery artist to receive such an award. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC are all proud guardians of pieces from the brand’s Black Label Masterpiece Collection. Chao has also collaborated with students from the École de Haute Joaillerie in Paris to create a large wax sculpture for the Louvre, and her jewellery designs have been worn by leading actresses and actors on red carpets across the world.
The expertise for which Chao is globally renowned is exquisitely showcased in the Four Seasons Leaf and Dragonfly brooches. Their peerless craftsmanship demands close observation, and their rarity is worthy of a glass case in a museum.
The Four Seasons Leaf, inspired by the changing of the seasons, is a celebration of the natural world, and one of Chao’s signature designs. Imbued with her emotionally resonant view of nature, as well as her feelings about her artistic journey, the Four Seasons collection holds a special place in the artist’s repertoire. Her design of the Winter Branch Necklace and Bangle catapulted her into the international limelight nearly two decades ago.
In this 20th Anniversary Collection, Chao’s acclaimed Leaf brooch is reimagined and informed by the breadth of knowledge acquired over the years. Always placing the highest value on expertise, Chao worked with a dozen European craft masters to replicate the leaf’s shape and add the final touches of the three-dimensional gem setting. The craftsmen notably worked on each piece only during its respective season, to truly capture the essence of the changing form and colour. The leaves are forged from titanium, which is transformed under Chao’s skilled sculptural prowess into intricate sinews of light and colour gradients, as well as detailed folds. With a melting point of 1668°C, titanium remains one of the least pliable metals and requires three times as much gem-setting time as 18K gold – a true challenge for the experienced jewellery artist, and a crowning achievement for the 20th anniversary.
An extraordinary 1500 gemstones are cast into the 1.77 mm-thick titanium base of each Leaf brooch, necessitating precise microscope work by the craftsmen and a magnification of 20 to 60 times, unsurprisingly given how meticulous the placement of each gemstone must be. Despite its challenges, titanium benefits from being a rather lightweight metal and each brooch weighs only 22 grammes. Looking at the delicate design of the Leaf brooch, which seems ready to be swept away by the wind at any moment, one can only applaud the daring use of the material to achieve such a deeply poetic form.
Not to be overshadowed by the Leaf brooch, the 20th Anniversary Collection’s Dragonfly brooch is an equally breathtaking jewel, conceived as a tribute to the dragonfly’s frequent appearance throughout the history of art. As delicate and ethereal as the seasonal leaf, the veins in a dragonfly’s wings and membrane are reproduced here with the utmost attention to detail. Chao adorns each brooch with 13 gemstones, in 50 different colours, to bring life to each unique Dragonfly. Such is the vitality of each piece that the dragonflies seem poised to take to the air in an instant. In an ingenious task of sculptural engineering, a mix of materials, including gold, ox-horn, titanium and light-activated resin, are included to ensure the precision of the structure and its joining. The dragonfly’s wings are tilted just so, and one might almost mistake it for the real thing but for the gleam of the precious jewels that adorn it.
Symbolism and poetry are never far from the artistry of Cindy Chao and are embodied in her Annual Butterfly. Produced every year since 2008, this jewel is inspired by the beautifully fragile creature and illustrates Chao’s continued transformation as an artist. The Dragonfly and Four Seasons Leaf both extend this tradition, serving as emblems of the jewellery artist’s 20-year ascent in the world of fine jewellery, as well as of her tenacity and daring in tackling challenges in the realm of engineering and art. Rare is a jewellery collection which so enchantingly elicits real emotion. Chao has proven not only her artistic prowess but also her ability to master form and material, paving the way for ever-higher standards and creativity in the future of jewellery craftsmanship and artistry.
