CINDY CHAO The Art Jewel was founded in 2004 by contemporary high jewelry artist Cindy Chao. Internationally renowned for its unique architectural and sculptural jewelry that is full of vitality, the wearable works of art are beloved by art jewelry collectors worldwide. Consistently breaking the boundaries of jewelry and art with their artistic aesthetic creativity and exquisite craftsmanship, Chao’s art jewels have been lauded by international authoritative academic institutions as exemplary of the pinnacle of 21st-century jewelry. The brand has been invited multiple times to participate in international influential art fairs such as the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris, The European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht and Masterpiece London. Its creations have achieved spectacular results at international auctions. Furthermore, Chao is the only Asian contemporary high jewelry artist whose creations have been inducted into three of the most prestigious museums in the world. The Smithsonian Museum in Washington, The Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London have all affirmed the brand’s position as a museum-caliber contemporary high jeweler.
Last November, Chao opened her first private CINDY CHAO MAISON in Mainland China. The invitation-and-appointment-only destination is nestled within The Bund, Shanghai’s historic waterfront district. The brand has become one of the most sought-after names in Mainland China ever since it set foot in Shanghai. This November, CINDY CHAO held a successful exhibition at the 9th edition of ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair. This marked the second time the brand had been invited to participate in the Jewelry and Design section of one of Asia’s most dynamic and visionary art fairs and unveiled the latest creations from the brand. The latest addition to her list of accolades happened in late November — Cindy Chao was appointed Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in France. As Chao once said, “every piece of jewelry should be a micro-architecture” — indeed her art jewelry is an embodiment of architectural, sculptural and organic elements all in one piece.
LARRY’S LIST had a conversation with Cindy Chao, who explained how much her architect grandfather and her sculptor father have influenced her creation journey; how she infuses Eastern and Western aesthetics in her creation; what motivated her to establish CINDY CHAO MAISON; how contemporary art has influenced her jewelry creation; and collectors’ growing interest in jewelry as an art form.
You collaborated with architect Tom Postma on an exhibition space in ART021. What is the concept and the source of inspiration?
We combined a subtle similarity between Eastern and Western architecture in the exhibition space of CINDY CHAO at ART021 this year. The space is a preface hall with a dome, which reminds me of our ancient Chinese buildings that have dome structures, such as the “Temple of Heaven” in Beijing. The concept of “the heaven is round and the earth square” in Chinese architecture brings a sense of solemnity and harmony. On the other hand, from the perspective of Tom, a Western architect, he thought of an important building in Rome, the Pantheon. The Pantheon, like the Temple of Heaven, is a place of ancient sacrifices, and the sunlight on the Pantheon, through the oculus at the top of the dome, converges into a beam of light inside, which also shows the ingenious integration of architecture and nature — full of light, shadow and philosophy. This finally inspired the overall design of the exhibition area with a cylindrical veil structure, like the pillar of light in the Pantheon. Therefore, the installation was called “Divine Light” which reflected the aesthetic beauty of Eastern and Western architecture and culture. We had created a space which allowed visitors to peek inside my creative universe behind the curtains.
In your opinion, “every piece of jewelry should be a micro-architecture”, how is space and structure condensed and reflected in your jewelry design?
Architecture involves precise engineering calculations, mechanical structure, three-dimensional perspective, modeling design, etc. When I was young, I had been constantly trained by my architect grandfather to master the three-dimensional concept of space and look at the three-dimensional structure from a macro perspective. Therefore, every link and every step of my high jewelry creations are the result of thoughtful and precise calculations. The craftsmanship of each piece is like constructing a miniature building.
My grandfather cultivated my understanding of “space”, which allows me to carefully check and examine 360 degrees when I am creating, whether it is the space formed by the line structure or the subspace formed between spaces. I see and make use of space like a real architect, which creates a very distinct architectural context even though my creation is jewelry art.
How has the craftsmanship, shape and perspective of sculpture influenced your jewelry creation? Which sculpture artist’s philosophy has influenced your jewelry creation?
In my childhood, I spent a lot of time honing the skills of sculpting and shaping in my father’s studio, especially for sculpts related to nature, and learned how my father integrated his decades of creative experience into his own nourishment at the time of creation. Instead of 2-D sketch, my jewellery creation started with 3-D wax sculpting. I sculpted the design appeared in my mind into a 1:1 scale wax model, and turn the hard wax block into a design work; if I am not satisfied, I will sculpt it again until it establishes my desired shape precisely. Thus, my high jewelry creations show strong three dimensionality like a sculpture.
My father’s idea of creation as a sculptor has profoundly influenced my subsequent jewelry creation. Thanks to my father, I learned to observe everything in the world in a three-dimensional perspective and capture the subtleties of life.
What kind of ideas do you hope to convey through your works? What do you think is CINDY CHAO’s unique creative language?
There are three core essences in my creations – architectural, sculptural and organic. One of my signature collections, the Architectural Collection, has embodied these essences very well. The collection pays tribute to the mighty nature, which is the greatest architect and artist in the world – mountains, seas, land, deserts, caves and lagoons are all from the great book of nature. The organic lines, asymmetric shapes and meticulous structures of my art jewels are all inspired by the natural world, which are the unique characters of CINDY CHAO.
There are spaces between surfaces in any architecture. In my art jewels, I use gemstones of various colors and shapes to create spaces between metal layers. Gemstones can physically strengthen the light and create colorful and vast spaces. This kind of narration of space is the core creative concept which can be found in every CINDY CHAO’s art jewel.
Natural elements are common materials in jewelry creation. Do you have a preference for a certain element in your creation?
The process of my creation cannot rely solely on intuition and instinct — I think it relies on the accumulation of life experience and the ability to perceive “life”.
My artistic creation attaches great importance to the expression of vitality. I want to capture the moment of life in all things in nature and preserve the fleeting state in my art jewelry.
The themes of my works always come from natural scenery, such as maple leaves, branches, flowers, fruits, etc. The organic vitality in my creations is the most distinctive feature. No matter how busy I am, I need to immerse myself in the nature for at least two weeks every year, cut off from the disturbances of cities, crowds, mobile phones, and computers; and go hiking, kayaking, traveling, etc. Being away from the hustle and bustle during the journey give me time to think and observe the nature peacefully, and feel the touch of nature with my heart — from every tree to every leaf on the tree, from mountains to rivers; they become the sources of inspiration in my future creation.
Sometimes, when I see a beautiful gem, it will also inspire me to start a creation. With the impression that this gem brings to me, I use my imagination to tell a story. Time is never a constraint to my creation — sometimes it may take two or three years before the inspiration comes to me, even though the gems are spectacular.
What motivated you to establish “CINDY CHAO MAISON” in Shanghai? What are the significance and special features of this space? What are the design context and the design highlights of the space?
In the past decade, two creations from my Black Label Masterpiece have been inducted by museums in the United States and France. (the third high jewellery piece from CINDY CHAO was inducted by Victoria and Albert Museum in May 2021) I also participated in international art fairs and my pieces were awarded. After being recognized in the Western world, I have always hoped to present the essence of my art jewelry creation to domestic collectors, and to promote the concept of art jewellery in the country, so that more people can understand jewelry as one of the art forms and appreciate it from an artistic perspective.
Therefore, in November 2020, we had selected this eclectic European-style building from the 19th century in the Bund in Shanghai, and opened my first private appreciation space “CINDY CHAO MAISON” in Mainland China.
The name of the space in Chinese is “Xindi”, which means “Cindy’s home”. I hope that once collectors enter this space, they can feel the unique aesthetics I create. I invited Dutch architect Tom Postma to join force with me to devise and construct this “Xindi”.
Tom, who is a renowned architect specializing in designing high-end temporary and permanent interiors for cultural institutions, museums, art galleries, and art fairs, also said with a smile that Xindi was the “smallest big project” he had ever done — although the space is relatively small to his other projects, he exerted the same effort into designing it as if designing a museum space.
CINDY CHAO MAISON uses logs as the main decoration material, but in the design of the private meeting room, Tom and I commissioned French-Swedish contemporary bronze artist Ingrid Donat to specially create a 400kg bronze sculptural sliding door and wall. The creation of bronze sculptures brings a grand atmosphere to the calm interior space and is an unmissable highlight of the maison. In addition, French designer Hervé Van der Straeten gathered a set of exclusive and rare antiques from Paris. Every detail of the space was carefully planned by a team of multinational artists with the idea of ”building a complex building”.
This is very similar to my artistic creation process — the perfection of the tiniest details, the self-challenge of incorporating architectural mindset, craftsmanship innovation, so as to create art jewelry with spatial sense. It can be said that my high jewelry creations and CINDY CHAO MAISON are both running through the same spiritual vein.
You are undoubtedly one of the best high-end jewelry designers in China and even in the world. How do the oriental and the international visions blend in your creation?
My creative thinking came from the education given by my architect grandfather and my sculptor father during my upbringing. Under their influence, I inherited their Eastern architectural thinking and carving craftsmanship. My grandfather taught me how to see the relative nature of things through comprehensive inspection and understanding — this is actually very much an Eastern way of thinking.
Based on this Eastern philosophy, I want to express the “organic vitality” in my works — I use jewelry to capture the full and abundant “life force” of things and the beautiful state of everything at a certain moment. This is an artistic expression with universal aesthetics. I hope to interpret the beauty of the world through the creation of jewelry art.
Through the traditional Eastern creative thinking and the universal aesthetics of capturing vitality, coupled with the century-old Western jewelry craftsmanship that I have adopted, I hope to achieve a rich cultural fusion in my creation.
Your high jewelry is somewhere between design and contemporary art. How do you see both? Or how does contemporary art influence your high jewelry creation?
Contemporary artworks offer aesthetic enjoyment to audiences and are also a medium for artists to express themselves. In my perspective, high jewelry is actually a vehicle of my artistic creation and expression. When I create, I start with an overall idea from an artistic point of view. Therefore, the orchestrate of lines, the selection of gems, and the combination of colors need to be very carefully conceived in my creations, which is not essentially different from the creation of other works of art.
Appreciating works of art in different fields often inspire me. For example, the 2019 Black Label Masterpiece XI Iris Sculptural Bangle was inspired by ancient reliefs in Florence; and for a pair of Aquatic Coral Earrings created this year, I was inspired by the painting “Untitled (Blue and Green)” by Mark Rothko, in which Rothko expressed his emotions and thoughts through the juxtaposition and aggressive mixtures of green and blue colours. I was moved by this exceptionally vibrant piece, which resulted in my meticulously juxtaposition of the colours of sapphires, emeralds and diamonds in a staggered manner, to illustrate the shimmering ocean in abstract expressionism.
In recent years, the market of high jewelry has clearly shown an upward trend, and there are also record-breaking contemporary auction items. In your opinion, what are the important concerns of collectors regarding the expression of jewelry as an art form?
Most of the jewels that were sold at high prices at auctions were rare and precious gems from areas that were extinct. Of course, some jewelry collectors are concerned about the value of the gem itself and the potential for future appreciation. For art jewelry works, in addition to the value of the gem itself, collectors care more about the artistic value of the work. Collectors are more interested in how the creator presents the beauty of gems through an artistic perspective, the beauty of design, and the creative thinking behind.
Value of inheritance is important. Chinese collectors care about the function and significance of passing jewelry to the next generation. The Smithsonian National History Museum in the United States even praises CINDY CHAO’s piece as a “future antique”.
Can you tell us about your jewelry collectors? What are the new trends in the collectors who collect your works?
In November last year, CINDY CHAO The Art Jewel opened the first CINDY CHAO MAISON in Shanghai. Over the past year or so, we have brought high jewelry creation that combines Eastern creative philosophies with sophisticated European craftsmanship to China and has amazed many jewelry collectors. In June this year, the “Endless Realm — CINDY CHAO The Art Jewel Exhibition” was held in Shanghai, which was the brand’s first solo exhibition presenting the latest Black Label Masterpieces to the public. Following the success of the June exhibition, we unveiled another selection of art jewelry at ART021 in November this year. We hope that through public exhibitions, more collectors can understand the concept of “art jewelry”. Over the past year, we have also discovered that more and more domestic collectors look at jewelry beyond a functional perspective and are beginning to appreciate jewelry as an art piece, from different perspectives of aesthetics, color matching, outline and form, and technological innovation breakthroughs — to appreciate and evaluate CINDY CHAO’s high jewelry creations from an artistic perspective. I am very happy to see this change in the audience’s perception.
At ART021, there was a new pair of earrings from the Black Label Masterpiece collection, which can best illustrate this change. The size of this creation is not the biggest among my exhibits; the colors and stones are also relatively simple. However, many collectors were stunned and curious about the ground-breaking technique of combining different materials in a high jewelry piece. They spent a lot of time in front of the earrings and examined them in detail. Some collectors also raised many questions to understand more about the combination of materials. This showed very well that collectors and the public have gradually improved their understanding of art jewelry, and they can appreciate the creativity and innovative craftsmanship of art jewelry from multiple perspectives.
In the space of “CINDY CHAO MAISON”, are there any art or design work to match the interior? How did you select the piece?
There is a pair of antique cabinets in CINDY CHAO MAISON created by French designer Hervé Van der Straeten. For CINDY CHAO MAISON, I specially commissioned this pair of cabinets, which Hervé spent nearly eight months in Paris to build. He collected and restored Chinese antique lacquer panels, then used these Chinese lacquered panels, lacquered wood panels and bronze patina panelling to form the exterior of the cabinet, while the interior was made of Indian rosewood. Hervé made extensive use of colors and materials to create elegant harmony. On the cabinet panels, there are women in ancient costumes, official halls, birds, flowers, and mythiccal beasts, etc., exuding a delightful atmosphere.
This pair of cabinets shows the characteristics of blending Eastern and Western cultures in terms of material and aesthetics. This coincides with the creative concept that I personally adhere to — infusing a diversity of philosophies and inspirations from both the East and the West. Therefore, I particularly like this pair of antique cabinets, which give a perfect finishing touch in the space.
All images: courtesy of Cindy Chao
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