How jewellery brands are helping to preserve traditional crafts, from Dior and Van Cleef & Arpels to Buccellati and Cindy Chao The Art Jewel

Craft specialists are indispensable to the world’s luxury jewellery brands but their traditional skills in translating a designer’s idea into a jewelled masterpiece are disappearing. Different skills are required, each with its own specialist, to turn a design into reality – from the sculpting and casting of the gold to the stone setting and polishing. Jewels may require goldsmiths with extra skills like forming the fine filigree work seen in Dolce & Gabbana’s alta gioielleria; engravers such as those at Buccellati to produce their distinctive cuffs or enamellers to decorate the dials of haute horology watches. For sculptural pieces, Cindy Chao, founder of her eponymous jewellery brand Cindy Chao The Art Jewel, and the craftspeople at Van Cleef & Arpels use the 18th century technique of cire perdue, meaning lost wax, where they sculpt wax into the desired shapes and figures before they are cast in metal and then transferred to the stone-setters. There are other specialists like glypticians at Dior to carve precious stone into little animals for Victoire de Castellane’s Diorama & Diorigami high jewellery collection, as well as craftsmen to set the precious gemstones and pavé setters who smother the metal with tiny diamonds. In addition, there are modern techniques where computer-aided design (CAD), laser machines and 3D printers are appearing in workshops. The fear in the industry however is that these skills are disappearing as young people choose careers in other fields. “We’re in a culture that pursues ‘speed’ in everything,” said Chao. “People generally lack patience, and fewer people are willing to invest time in learning traditional skills that require experience and time accumulation. For me, the most significant challenge in the development of jewellery craftsmanship is the decreasing interest of young people to patiently learn the traditional crafts of jewellery making.” Nevertheless, designers and luxury brands realise that it is beholden on them to help preserve these crafts. Chao and Anna Hu, founder of Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie, were recently involved in projects at the Haute École de Joaillerie (HEJ) in Paris, a school where Dior has also implemented a training programme. Dior draws on students to work as jewellery apprentices in their workshops – one in Paris and eight jewellery apprentices in Lyon where HEJ also has a campus. Then there is the work of L’École Van Cleef & Arpels in sharing the jewellery culture with the public at large but also speaking at grass roots level with schoolchildren. Working with 13 students over several months at HEJ this summer was a first for Hu. It was a design project based around the Chinese floral theme of The Chinese Four Gentlemen – the plum blossom, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum floral motifs – inspired by the artistic collections at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts in Paris. The project was the museum’s celebration of the France-China 60th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations with the designs exhibited at the Guimet in June, alongside Hu’s own high jewellery creations. With Hu’s support, designs created by the three finalists are going into production. “Their work was exceptional; they are truly promising talents of the future,” said Hu who shared her expertise in design and craftsmanship to help the students shape their own interpretations and expressions. “I enjoyed the experience a lot – it definitely inspired me to see things from a younger generation’s perspective,” she reflected, explaining the project “is something I would continue to explore further”. A believer in the need to nurture artistic growth, Chao last autumn held a week-long workshop at HEJ working with students to create a single sculptural object, rather than a jewel, using the French cire perdue technique of sculpting. As well as sharing her practical knowledge, Chao demonstrated how she explored the technique through her contemporary designs, which often include innovative materials, such as titanium, wood and French lacquer. “This was a new experience for me,” said Chao. “In the past, when teaching my colleagues wax sculpting, it was always one-to-one, but for this workshop there were 28 students – I had to rethink how to share the essence of wax sculpting.” She felt she was there to inspire them. The school offers systemic teaching of the skill, but: “I aim to offer different perspectives, sparking a deeper understanding and mastery of the art of wax sculpting and jewellery making.” Jewellery craftsmanship is an endeavour that requires experience and patience, she emphasised. “The transmission and accumulation of experience across generations require dedicated time for nurturing.” She was very moved by the students’ enthusiasm and saw significant progress in their abilities, while the school was equally thrilled to secure the time of one of the industry’s few jewellery artists who is a practitioner of this skill. L’École, School of Jewellery Arts founded by Van Cleef & Arpels in 2012 with campuses in Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dubai, has a slightly different mission as it was born of a desire to transmit the passion and knowledge surrounding jewellery arts with a broader audience. They recently opened a second campus in Paris in an 18th century mansion on the Grand Boulevards that houses exhibition space and a specialist library. Lise Macdonald, president of L’École, described the school as “a clear statement for our school to position jewellery as an art form, and to render jewellery arts accessible for everyone to enjoy”. “As we acknowledge our students are all different, we provide several paths to learning, be it courses around three pillars: art history of jewellery, gemmology and savoir faire (jewellery craftsmanship),” said Macdonald, adding that their core mission is “to share jewellery culture but also to protect its knowledge by sharing, recording, publishing. By doing so we aim to contribute to protect the future of the artisan skills.” They hold in-person activities, workshops, talks and research. The vocational opportunities however are little known among teenagers and so L’École has taken an active part in the regular De Mains en Mains (from Hands to Hands) in Lyon organised by Van Cleef & Arpels. “The event allows students as well as adults who seek a new path in their career to discover jewellery craftsmanship,” said Macdonald. “Even though we are not a certifying school, we receive several testimonies from students who attended our classes mentioning their will to pursue a career in jewellery making. [This] is heartwarming and gives us confidence that the work around crafts and creation has a bright future.”

How jewellery brands are helping to preserve traditional crafts, from Dior and Van Cleef & Arpels to Buccellati and Cindy Chao The Art Jewel

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}In a rapidly evolving industry, luxury brands are investing in education to safeguard the artisanal skills that transform design visions into exquisite jewellery

In a rapidly evolving industry, luxury brands are investing in education to safeguard the artisanal skills that transform design visions into exquisite jewellery