Jewellery Design: Art and artistry of Wallace Chan

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Europe

02:20

Wallace Chan is the Hong Kong jeweller behind some of the world's most exclusive gemstone carvings. As a creator, he tries to infuse his passion, dreams, and philosophies into each of his pieces. CGTN's Li Jiejun talked to Chan and found out the stories behind his creations.

WALLACE CHAN JEWELLERY DESIGNER "Everything has its universe. The gemstone has, the craftsmanship has. The overlapping of different universes produces jewelley art."

Wallace Chan became a gemstone-carving apprentice in 1973. His creative journey has continued since then for over 40 years. And now Hong Kong is displaying 80 of its native's works in an exhibition for the first time. These pieces are drawing intense reactions from visitors.

WALLACE CHAN JEWELLERY DESIGNER "I recommend this piece. It's an eye. In the eyeball, there's a beautiful peacock made of different stones. These stones also represent thousands of eyes. When you are looking at them, they are looking at you."

LI JIEJUN HONG KONG "Wallace Chan is not only a veteran artist, but also an innovator. Over two and a half years, he invented a carving technique known as the 'Wallace Cut', which takes advantage of a gemstone's internal properties to produce designs with a three-dimensional effect."

WALLACE CHAN JEWELLERY DESIGNER "The Wallace Cut involves drilling a hole into the back of a multifaceted stone and then carving an image there, in reverse. When viewed from the front, the image will be reflected multiple times. It needs precise calculations and faceting. And I need to do the carving in water in case the stone breaks from the heat of the drilling."

Chan has also invented a kind of unbreakable porcelain. He also added titanium to his creation. He said porcelain is traditional and titanium is modern. So the combination means he's connecting the past and present and leading to the future. LJJ, CGTN, HK.