PROMOTION
PROMOTION 2022 BLACK LABEL MASTERPIECE VIII THE EMERALD CARIBBEAN SUMMER BROOCH in titanium, set with a 3.8ct pear-shaped Muzo Green Colombia Emerald and nearly 2,200 pieces of three varieties of diamonds and tsavorites The latest masterpiece from Cindy Chao The Art Jewel takes the artist in an exciting, modern new direction. The tall, graceful shape of the Caribbean Summer Brooch (2022 Black Label Masterpiece VIII) would be familiar to connoisseurs of her airy feather brooches but this piece has an extraordinary, architectural formality, perhaps the clearest expression yet of Cindy’s heritage as the granddaughter of an architect. Maybe it was this aspect of her make-up that made her so inspired by the big, distinctive leaves of the banana trees, known as musa, that she saw everywhere on visits to the Caribbean, and resolved to create a piece redolent of its holiday islands, where the trees often fringe beaches and fields, and the dry swish of their leaves in the sunshine as tropical breezes pass through is as much a background noise as the lapping of gentle waves. What attracted her most was the leaf’s dramatic structure, a gently arched and sturdy central rib, undulating surface and edges contrasting with the regularity of a multitude of horizontal veins. Recreating this in light but ultrahard titanium, her favourite metal, with a profusion of painstakingly set gems was the task she set herself and her craftsmen. The design itself has the wow factor, and the craft involved, including techniques new to the brand, is its equal. Working with the ancient lost wax method, where a wax mould of the exact shape of the design is created and then every detail of it filled with metal, the craftsmen reproduced Cindy’s concept, which owes a lot to the other great influence on her designs – the work of her sculptor father. She wanted to recreate the gentle movement of the leaf in the breeze, with rippling surfaces and subtly curved centre stem. To make this 3D effect, the craftsmen manipulate the titanium with 1.5kg hammers, moulding it into a sinuous, organic shape – a supreme task as the process makes the metal even harder. Then the metal is carved out into tiny tracks to represent the leaf veins, into which over 400 white diamonds, most of them specially made, square, Asscher-cut diamonds around 3mm are inserted, the tension from each side holding them in place next to each other so no metal appears and the diamonds blaze. This is known as channel setting and it is the first time Cindy has used it, a great feat on such a challenging shape. Opposite page: Details from the hand-making process of the 2022 Black Label Masterpiece VIII The Emerald Caribbean Summer Brooch
