Paris, France —Cutting-edge craftsmanship and extraordinary gemstones come together in the collections of haute couture jewelry from the house of Cindy Chao The Art Jewel. For example her Spring Cardamom Brooches feature exquisite oval-shaped cabochon Colombian emeralds while her Royal Butterfly Brooche was inducted into the Smithsonian Institution. And last fall, Cindy Chao surprised us once again. She teamed up with the prestigious Haute École de Joaillerie in Paris and conducted a week-long workshop with 28 of their students focusing on the « Cire Perdu » wax sculpting technique. The Haute École de Joaillerie in Paris is a prestigious scholastic institution whose mission has been to transmit jewelry know-how since its foundation in 1867. 

« I believe in the power of education and its capacity to nurture artistic growth and innovation. It is my aspiration to preserve the longstanding heritage of jewelry craftsmanship, and to continue pushing its boundaries. All the while to inspire young talents to unleash their creativity to illuminate the future of the jewelry industry,” says Cindy Chao, founder of Cindy Chao The Art Jewel. The inspiration for the wax creation is “La Dormition de la Vierge” by Caravaggio, which is exhibited at The Louvre. The project was a dialogue between art and nature, one of Cindy’s favorite sources of inspiration.

The granddaughter of an architect and the daughter of a sculptor, creativity has always surrounded the artist. She established her house Cindy Chao Art Jewel in 2004 in her native Taiwan and collectors have flocked to her unique pieces, among them her enigmatic annual butterfly collections. One of her butterflies has even flown into the Smithsonian Institute at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. She uses the 18th century craft technique of crafting designs in wax before completing her intricate sculptures with precious metals and gemstones.

Her most prestigious collections, The Black Label Masterpieces and The White Label Collection, have found their way into auctions, museums and private collections. The pieces blend together the designer’s masterful technique, the ingenuity of contemporary Eastern art and the centuries-old Western jewelry craftsmanship offering up a new definition of high jewelry. In 2021, Chao became the first and only Asian jewelry artist to receive the French honor of Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette. https://www.cindychao.com/en