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人 物<br />
Feature<br />
<strong>2014</strong> 巴 黎 古 董 雙 年 展 特 輯<br />
<strong>2014</strong> Biennale des Antiquaires<br />
We first met Wallace Chan in July, in Paris.<br />
He told us about the making of his necklace<br />
“Secret Abyss”. On the table were 4 crystals<br />
of different shapes, he told us how he spent 4<br />
years to choose the rutilated crystal. We were<br />
very interested in how he managed to fit the<br />
apparently much bigger “clouds” through the<br />
tiny hole in the center of the crystal.<br />
For Wallace Chan: “Jewelry design is also a<br />
kind of magic. Because when we act, when<br />
we make something with the heart, everyone<br />
is a magician. Even the most impossible<br />
deeds - if our heart is truly steadfast - they<br />
surely can work out.”<br />
Wallace Chan<br />
beyond Jewelry<br />
『 浪 裡 淘 花 』 肩 針 , 一 顆 6.68 克 拉 黃 鑽 , 鑲 嵌 黃 鑽 、 紅 寶 石 、 粉 紅 剛 玉 。<br />
“Gleams of Waves” Brooch, Yellow Diamond 1pc 6.68ct<br />
Yellow Diamond, Ruby, Pink Sapphire.<br />
『 乾 坤 日 夜 浮 』 項 鍊 吊 墜 ,135,4 克 拉 的 海 藍 寶 石 ( 世 英 切 割 )<br />
“Now and Always” Pendant, Aigue-marine (Taille Wallace) 135.4ct<br />
Améthyste, Diamant, Topaze Bleue, Saphir<br />
He used to study Chinese painting, oil painting, pencil sketching<br />
and interior decoration, he carved jade, coral, and even sculpted<br />
statues of Buddha and divine condors for buddhist towers. He<br />
once lived as a monk, then he came back to the world. Once, a friend<br />
of his introduced him to an admirer of his works coming from Singapour,<br />
he asked him to make a pair of earrings from 2 diamonds.<br />
The final product re-enhanced the sparkle and the handcrafting of<br />
the diamonds, his client was very happy, and this is how he started<br />
in jewelry making.<br />
TOL (Taste of Life): How did you encounter gems and antiques?<br />
Wallace: I once would go everywhere to look for good gems, but it<br />
was very hard to find. I would spend all my energy over every piece<br />
of work, very carefully, to make it the best possible. Slowly, people<br />
came to know that the craftsmanship of my creations have a soul,<br />
those who have good gems or big gems would come to find me, even<br />
very big auction houses. So I was thinking, if we want to do the<br />
best, to be the best craftsmen, good things will naturally come to<br />
us.<br />
TOL: What do you think is the greatest value of your jewelry?<br />
Wallace: The concept of value is relative. Some things may need<br />
agreat amount of money in exchange, but are still largely worth it.<br />
Some things we cannot tag them with a value, like the ring or the<br />
bracelet your mother gave you, no matter how much money anyone<br />
gives you, would you want to part with it? In this world, the value<br />
© Wallace Chan<br />
© Wallace Chan<br />
of feelings, memories and spirit are far greater than the value<br />
of money.<br />
I hope that the message of a jewel becomes known to the greater<br />
public, reaching a power of educating future generations. I give<br />
great importance to communication and conjunction with the<br />
heart; it is the most precious.<br />
TOL: The period of sculpting Buddha statues and towers, of<br />
being a monk, how did it affect your creations?<br />
Wallace: When I was in the order, I gave up everything, I understood<br />
“abandonment”, and only by abandoning can we acquire,<br />
we can only achieve success through sacrifice. “The great way has<br />
no doors, only love is the path”, I’m cultivating an attitude of<br />
loving heaven, loving the earth, loving every living thing and<br />
loving people. I hope that when people look at my work, they<br />
would say, this is the work of someone with love in his heart and<br />
feelings in his bosom.<br />
TOL: What do you think is the difference between creating jewellery<br />
with Eastern philosophy and Western jewelry? How must a<br />
jewel be for you to feel satisfied, what are your standards?<br />
Wallace: The sea englobes many a mountain, it is great by its<br />
tolerance. In terms of craftsmanship and gold smithy, Western<br />
world has a really deep background and techniques, we have to<br />
learn from the Western world for this. But I would also use traditional<br />
Chinese techniques, like the use of mortise and tenon in<br />
Chinese architecture, I would transplant it into jewelry making.<br />
If I’m telling a story, then it would be the most simple of stories,<br />
the stories of mankind. Day after day, year after year, flowers<br />
bloom then fade, eras come and go, the past never comes back,<br />
when a jewel is made, it captures eternity.<br />
Buddha said, the absence of normality is in fact normality. If<br />
you look closer, you would find that not only there is no regularity<br />
in the world, even the most common thing in the world<br />
can be completely inimitable and impossible to duplicate, like a<br />
leaf, a digital print, perfect without standard. For me, repeating<br />
is producing, not creating. I took the habit of never duplicating,<br />
every piece of jewellery work is the responsibility we have towards<br />
life. There are at most about 30 000 days in a man’s life,<br />
every second past, is a second gone, I have a habit of continuously<br />
adding pressure to myself within this ongoing pressure, trying<br />
to make the most of every minute and every second.<br />
TOL: What is Elegance for you? How do you express it with<br />
jewelry?<br />
Wallace: Elegance, is a character that transpires from inside to<br />
the outside. We usually use the word “graceful” to describe a lady’s<br />
moves and words, “elegant” to describe her inner beauty. It<br />
is the same for jewelry, from its shine, color and shape we can<br />
tell whether it is graceful, it includes the quality of the craftsmanship<br />
of the gem. From the jewel’s spirit, meaning, sentimental<br />
value and originality, we can tell whether it is elegant. But<br />
the quality of anything is based on the culture of the person, if<br />
it is high, then it would be high, if it’s shallow, then it would<br />
be shallow. Jewelry is the symbol of human civilisation, the<br />
record of history, a good jewel has a mission of transmission<br />
and education. Men give them deep meanings, the spirit of a<br />
man builds its character.<br />
For example, for the making of “Now and Always” I used<br />
the Wallace cut I invented in 1987 as a theme. Because<br />
the figure of a goddess dates back to Ancient Greece, and<br />
throughout history, it is already a symbol of elegance in itself.<br />
I believe there were a lot of gods in human history, that<br />
were all real people, who used their super human determination<br />
and abilities to help men in their times. Their noble<br />
feelings became, in the end, supreme figures, that is not true<br />
only for Western deities.<br />
I represented the figure of the goddess with the Wallace<br />
cut, this figure reflects into 4 more figures of the goddess,<br />
meaning that she commands the four seasons, representing<br />
the forever changes in humanity. This explains the feelings<br />
conveyed in “the Ancients can’t see today’s moon, but today’s<br />
moon used to shine upon the Ancients”. The cosmos is fluctuating,<br />
now and always, but the cosmos is also immutable.<br />
A good jewel, has an unique design never seen before, it<br />
tells the past and the present of mankind, it represents the<br />
affinity between everything. This inner meaning, draws out a<br />
never ending resonance in people’s heart, a moving and joyous<br />
memory, which achieves elegance.<br />
TOL: Is the necklace “Secret Abyss” the most spectacular<br />
work in the Biennial Show in Paris?<br />
Wallace: This work is part of the magic of this Biennial. The<br />
other big surprise is the biggest gem in the world and in history,<br />
167 carat, that will be exhibited. That is a once in a century<br />
chance to see such an antique.<br />
TOL: What do you expect of your clients?<br />
Wallace: In fact, I haven’t been really serious about finding<br />
clients. At my age, making efforts in the sole aim to sell<br />
something is really strenuous. In the last 40 years, even my<br />
living place is a couch-less 30 m² flat. Someone once asked<br />
me: “Don’t you have big money?” I said: “I do, but this money<br />
shouldn’t be used for myself.” Money has different uses for<br />
different people. Some people in Taiwan have much money,<br />
but they use that money to build schools and other charity<br />
works.<br />
TOL: To finish, what is your understanding of life that you<br />
would like to share with our readers?<br />
Wallace: The success of the next minute is based on the beginning<br />
of this minute.<br />
Discussing with Wallace Chan is like reuniting with a long<br />
lost friend. At the end of the interview, he bade us goodbye<br />
with an Anjali Mudra.<br />
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