Wallace Chan is more than just a jeweler designer. The artist and philosopher born in Fuzhou, China, has developed his own techniques and influenced several generations of artisans.
His stunning artwork pieces were compiled in a very special book. “Wallace Chan: Dream Light Water” is a limited edition publication featuring 86 pieces of jewelry produced by the Hong Kong-based master craftsman.
The inventor of the “Wallace Cut” (1987) started as a gemstone carving apprentice and set up his workshop at age 17. Chan made tools to manipulate jade and titanium and spread his jewelry creations all over the world.
The “Wallace Cut,” an illusionary carving technique combining cameo, intaglio, and gem faceting, became his trademark, but Chan kept impressing the industry with his constant search for innovation and beauty.
Wallace Chan shared his jewelry pieces with a vast audience – New York, Basel, Beijing, Paris, Maastricht, and Idar-Oberstein were some of the cities where his work was shown.
The book “Wallace Chan: Dream Light Water,” written by gemologist and jewelry historian Juliet Weir de la Rochefoucauld, features close-up photography that emphasizes materials, details, and techniques.
“His pieces reflect his Zen philosophy, adopting realism as a medium to express abstraction, and reveal a unique craftsmanship in developing new techniques for carving precious stones and manipulating titanium and jade, using tools he has made,” notes the publisher Rizzoli.
