Two intertwined emerald diamond butterflies, accompanied by soft music, just the right light and shadow, dancing in the display case...
Do you think it's a dream?
No, it's CINDY CHAO Art Jewelry, a museum-quality jewelry brand, held "Between Light and Shadow - 2023 Butterfly Master Works Exhibition" in Shanghai last weekend.
One work, create an art exhibition.
It may sound incredible, but the black technology floating display case, the dreamy exhibition hall like the sky and shadow, the brilliant and gorgeous "Amour Butterfly"... Each setting is enough to refresh the visitors' cognition, bring people a multi-dimensional visual and auditory experience, and present a creative and immersive feast of jewelry and art aesthetics.
CINDY CHAO Art Jewelry 2023 Butterfly Master Exhibition
So, what kind of works can support an exhibition?
One work, create an art exhibition
As early as in the group portrait series of jewelers, Mr. J introduced the designer of "Amour Butterfly": jewelry artist Cindy Chao.
(Related reading: The woman behind Ivanka Trump, Wendi Deng, and Zhang Ziyi - Miss Butterfly Cindy Chao)
Cindy Chao was born in Taiwan and went to New York on his own to pursue FIT (New York Academy of Art and Design) and GIA (American Gemological Institute) courses in New York.
Perhaps influenced by her architect grandfather and sculptor father, Cindy Chao is insane in her dedication to the three-dimensional structure of jewelry, arguing that "every piece of jewelry should be like a miniature building."
Shadow Butterfly craft drawing
Each level, structure, arc, and turn must be carefully planned and calculated, not only the arrangement of diamond settings, the presentation of fire, but even the ergonomic and mechanical support structure, which has gone beyond traditional gemstone setting and involves the field of engineering structure.
Shadow Butterfly craft drawing
It is precisely this ultimate pursuit of craftsmanship and ingenious creativity that has made her the first Chinese designer to be auctioned at Christie's, and her works have been evaluated as the most representative jewelry artworks of the 21st century, and are permanently treasured by the Smithsonian National Museum of History in the United States, second only to the White House.
Group photo with brand ambassador Ni Ni
In particular, the annual butterfly collection, which is one piece a year and a representative of the brand, not only shows the brand's superb craftsmanship and extraordinary creativity, but also witnesses the brand's continuous exploration and ultimate challenge in art and material craftsmanship.
This time, presented at the Shanghai Long Museum, it is Cindy Chao's tenth butterfly work of the year - Liying Butterfly.
This work was specially made by Cindy Chao's team of European master craftsmen who spent more than 15,000 man-hours, specially created for a loving collector couple.
Shadow butterfly brooch craft diagram
Cindy Chao uses extremely difficult titanium to shape the skeleton of the butterfly, and for the first time uses the European cow horn, which and the 8.31 ct long marquise-shaped diamond are formed into a butterfly body through the tenon and tenon structure of the building, through the combination of color and light and shadow, the elegance and natural beauty of the butterfly are displayed between the virtual and the real.
The 29.18 ct and 27.52 ct hexagonal tower Colombian emeralds on the wings are a striking and perfect echo of the theme of love.
In order to make the butterfly's wings stretch outward, Cindy Chao uses a variety of shapes of rose-cut white diamonds as a base, sporadic sapphires of different sizes, multi-layered setting, and ingenious light and shadow changes, making the butterfly look light and agile, as if two butterflies are tightly overlapped and become one.
In addition, Cindy Chao also invited Tom Postma, a well-known Dutch architectural space designer and sculptor, to create an immersive dream space, and specially invited teams from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Singapore to jointly create the world's longest floating path showcase, making this shadow butterfly the first annual butterfly that can really fly, truly realizing the wonderful scenery of "butterfly flying lightly".
A giant art installation composed of more than 1,000 handmade butterflies, a tree-shaped installation made of more than 100,000 cocoons stacked on top of each other, butterflies dancing in the display case as if enchanted... Each design is mesmerizing and unforgettable.
The annual butterfly collection that amazes the world
Of course, this isn't Cindy Chao's first butterfly of the year.
"The human shell will fade with time, but art can be passed down through the ages. So we use our works to prove that we once existed. ”
Since 2008, Cindy Chao's The Art Jewel - Black Label Master Series has launched a butterfly brooch every year, which takes more than 18 months and nearly 10,000 man-hours to condense the dexterity, delicate and strength of nature in different postures, witnessing the growth and transformation of the brand.
- 2008 "Ruby Side Flying Butterfly" brooch
In 2008, Cindy Chao's The Art Jewel - Black Label Master Collection launched its first butterfly of the year: the Ruby Side Fly Butterfly Brooch.
This brooch is the only butterfly piece to date that shows people from the side.
A pair of conformal egg-faced unburned rubies weighing nearly 13 carats are the main stones, surrounded by color-changing sapphires, colored diamonds, etc., through irregular curved lines and 360-degree wrap-around setting without dead angles, showing the butterfly breaking out of the cocoon and spreading its wings, which also reflects Cindy Chao's expectations for the brand's inception and the mood that will spread its wings in the future.
In 2020, this "ruby side-flying butterfly brooch" flew into the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, France, and was listed in its permanent collection, becoming the second piece of artistic jewelry included in the brand's top international museum.
- 2009 "Royal Butterfly" brooch
In 2009, The Art Jewel - Black Label Masterpiece I "Royal Butterfly" brooch was unveiled.
Cindy Chao innovatively integrates the original diamond into the design, and adopts the brand's signature 360-degree diamond setting process, 2318 colored treasures are set in it, the front and back sides show different patterns and totems, the overall design is integrated into one, the shape is complex and gorgeous, which is a masterpiece.
In the same year, this "Royal Butterfly" brooch, with its extraordinary setting technology, subverted the design of traditional jewelry, won the reputation of "the most representative contemporary jewelry art masterpiece" of the Smithsonian National History Museum in the United States, and became the first jewelry work from a Chinese artist in the museum's collection.
This rare honor also established Cindy Chao's position on the international jewelry stage, witnessing her arduous journey from jewelry designer to artistic jewelry master.
- 2010 "Red Rose Butterfly" brooch
In 2010, Cindy Chao brought us the annual butterfly collection a "Red Rose Butterfly" brooch.
A 9.45 ct egg-cut ruby is set in the center, and six mahogany diamond embryos are set in four butterfly wings of different sizes and shapes, blooming like rose petals.
- 2011 "Perfection Butterfly" brooch
In 2011, Cindy Chao drew creative inspiration from the paintings of Dutch impressionist painter Van Gogh to create the Perfection butterfly brooch, which made the annual butterfly series break new again.
The 5.32 ct pear-shaped Fancy Vivid yellow diamond is the main stone, and the butterfly wings are set with 1821 sapphires and yellow diamonds weighing a total of more than 85 carats, with contrasting tones and unique openwork butterfly wing design, which not only makes this butterfly full of vitality and vitality, but also expresses the perspective of designer Cindy Chao's integration of jewelry art into life.
- 2012 "Reborn Butterfly" brooch
In 2012, Cindy Chao's rebirth butterfly brooch was collected by international collectors at Christie's for $954102, five times more than estimated.
In order to make the work more wearable, Cindy Chao broke with tradition and boldly chose titanium to build the backbone of the butterfly.
In the article Jewelry craftsmanship | Durable! Not allergic! How awesome is this rainbow-colored metal? Mr. J once introduced that titanium metal has the advantages of light specific gravity, good durability, variable color, and skin-friendly, but at the same time, it also has the disadvantages of high hardness, difficult processing, high melting point, difficult to weld, and too strong metal memory.
Cindy Chao and Europe's top setting masters spent up to two years studying the thermal expansion coefficient and color change properties of titanium before using this material to perfection.
A 3.01 ct shield-cut white diamond is set in the middle of the butterfly, and more than 3,000 diamonds and sapphires are spread out on the titanium backbone, the shape is flexible and light, the body is soft and natural, and it radiates infinite vitality, perfectly interpreting the transformation of the butterfly after breaking through the cocoon, and also symbolizing the rebirth of the brand after precipitation.
- 2013-2014 "Ballet Butterfly" brooch
In 2013, Cindy Chao teamed up with Sarah Jessica Parker, the queen of New York fashion, to launch a dancer-like ballet butterfly brooch.
The butterfly frame cast in titanium, the center stone is a cushion-shaped fancy brownish yellow diamond weighing 26.27 carats, the butterfly's figure is as light and graceful as a ballet dancer, perfectly interpreting the ultimate beauty of ballet.
In 2013, at Sotheby's Hong Kong, the brooch sold for $1.21 million, with all proceeds donated to the New York City Ballet.
- 2015-2016 "Red Butterfly" brooch
In 2015-2016, Cindy Chao's Butterfly of the Year collection was a ruby butterfly brooch with great visual tension.
This brooch is based on the Queen of Spain butterfly, known as the most beautiful butterfly in the world, Graellsia Isabellae, Cindy Chao chose a pillow-cut 5.16 ct Burmese unburned pigeon blood ruby as the main stone, with a total weight of 45.90 carats of rubies and 72.04 carats of diamonds as butterfly wings, the classic red, black and white color scheme, which captures the beauty of butterflies dancing in the sun. The exuberant atmosphere is irresistible.
- 2017-2018 "Red Diamond Butterfly" brooch
In 2018, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of The Art Jewel - Black Label Master Series, CINDY CHAO spent 2 and a half years to launch a brilliant "Red Diamond Butterfly Brooch".
Red diamonds are known to be the rarest variety of fancy color diamonds and are especially rare among all colors.
Worldwide, only a few gem-quality pure red diamonds can be found in a year, red diamonds of less than 0.2 carats can be important auctions, 1 carat can be listed in museum collections, and the 10 carat octagonal cut orange red diamond on this red diamond butterfly brooch is even rarer.
In addition to the careful selection of the center stone, the design of the butterfly wings is also ingenious, from the original single layer to a double-sided design.
In order to make the overall color more harmonious and natural, CINDY CHAO set a total of 180 rose-cut diamonds on the upper wings, and 67 carats of yellow diamonds on the lower wings, and restored the colorful nature through a gradient, presenting us with a luxurious and flexible visual feast.
- 2019 "Aurora Butterfly" brooch
In 2019, at CINDY CHAO The Art Jewel in Shanghai, Cindy Chao's "Aurora Butterfly" brooch made a stunning appearance.
Inspired by Cindy Chao's grandfather's hand-painted architectural blueprints, this work constructs a three-layer structure of wing veins, wings and scales inside the butterfly, 4 Burmese pigeon blood rubies, 2,700 yellow diamonds, more than 2,000 sapphires, and 163 rose-cut diamonds, showing the ultimate brilliance and flexible beauty of butterflies through 360-degree setting technology, which is very visually impactful.
Mr. J said:
CINDY CHAO's "Between Light and Shadow - 2023 Butterfly Master Exhibition" runs from September 9th to October 6th, if you happen to be in Shanghai, you may wish to check it out, it will definitely amaze you!
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