Master jeweler invents ‘unbreakable’ porcelain

Editor’s Note: In Pursuit of Rare is a new series telling the stories of the master makers who deal in the most precious things on earth.

Every day Wallace Chan “communicates” with the universe, turning rough, ancient gemstones into extraordinary pieces of jewelry.

“I learn from the color, the shape, the light,” Chan says, rotating a block of tourmaline in his hand. “When you cut, when you polish, it’s like music. The light goes through the stone, reflects, and it’s like a ballet.”

Since founding his studio in 1974, the artist’s work has become legendary, due to his inventive and painstaking approach to gem carving. For example, his signature “Wallace Cut,” is a complex technique developed over several years which allows him to create detailed images inside gemstones, producing a three-dimensional effect.

In 2014, Hong Kong jewelry giant Chow Tai Fook invited Chan to create a lavish neckpiece from over 11,000 diamonds, alongside green jadeite and so-called “mutton fat” white jade beads. The design process took a team of 22 people and 47,000 hours to make, resulting in a uniquely modular piece that could be reconfigured and worn in 27 different ways.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

You chip away at it -- for some 47,000 man hours, and then turn it into one lavish neckpiece, featuring 11,551 diamonds.

STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

The rock, named the Cullinan Heritage, was discovered in 2009 at the Cullinan Diamond Mine in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The mine is where the majority of the world's most famous diamonds have been discovered. The stats? It's a 507.55-carat Type IIA rough diamond, coveted for its extreme clarity and flawless quality.

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In 2010, Hong Kong's largest jeweler, Chow Tai Fook, acquired the Cullinan Heritage. The company successfully bid $35.3 million for the 507-carat rock. It's the highest sale price ever achieved for a rough diamond.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

Chow Tai Fook cut the Cullinan Heritage into a family of 24 smaller D color, internally flawless diamonds. The process of achieving a technically perfect cut and polish lasted three years.  

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

In 2014, Chow Tai Fook invited jewelry designer Wallace Chan to unite the diamonds into one single piece of jewelry. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Chan says of the collaboration.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

The design process took a team of 22 people and 47,000 hours to make.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

"It was challenging -- all 24 of the small diamonds came in many different shapes. I had to find a way to achieve optical balance," Wallace recalls. "You'll notice I juxtaposed all the marquise-shaped diamonds on one side and all the pear-shaped diamonds on the other side."

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

Chan says many experiments in design were required to create the final piece. One particular 104-carat diamond stood out. "It reminded me of a European church I had visited many years ago. I was attracted by the ceiling of the church because I felt its energy going upwards, almost pulling me up to the dome," recalls Chan. "I felt it again when I saw the petals of the light in the stone -- the infinite reflections of light. It bloomed in my heart like a flower of my dreams. And it inspired the necklace's design." The piece was later named "A Heritage in Bloom."

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

"Gravity was one of the challenges I faced designing the necklace," Chan says. "The necklace would get pulled by the weight of the stones and the structure. I had to fight gravity and find the perfect proportion for each style. It took repeated experiments."

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

Chan also incorporated hundreds of mutton fat white jade beads and green jadeite, 598 pink diamonds and 10,953 white diamonds, in addition to the 24 main diamonds from the Cullinan Heritage, in the final piece.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

"The mutton fat white jade beads are like the shape of prayer beads," Chan says. "I think of prayers beads as something that transcends cultures and religions."

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

"I polished the mutton fat white jade beads to perfect roundness, hollowed them out, and placed titanium parts so they could be connected throughout the piece invisibly," Chan explains.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

"I set a diamond inside each bead so the humility and the smoothness of jade - a symbol of the East, embraces the power and sparkles of the diamond - a long celebrated love of the West," Chan says.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

Chan felt it was important to have strong symbolism running throughout the piece. "I placed butterflies and bats on the necklace. Butterflies stand for everlasting love in Chinese culture, and bats symbolize happiness."

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

"The green jadeite and pink diamonds are used to bring the piece to life. It took a long time to hand pick the right color and quality of jadeite," Chan recalls.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

The final piece is uniquely modular and can be worn in 27 different ways. The number is significantly rooted in the Chinese concept of eternity. 27 is the cube of 3, which represents infinity in Chinese culture.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

This is another way to wear the necklace. Chan says the necklace feels almost weightless.

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

When Chan first began to design the necklace, he didn't think about it being worn 27 different ways. "I had just wanted it to be worn in 5 ways but got carried away. I am happy with the result."

Courtesy Chow Tai Fook

Chow Tai Fook estimates that the market would conservatively value all the finished materials united in "A Heritage in Bloom" at $200 million. The jeweler says it has no immediate plans to sell it.

“We need innovation,” Chan says, citing influences from across Eastern and Western cultures, philosophy, nature and advanced technology. “If there is no danger, and we are only enjoying the craftsmanship from yesterday, we will only be enjoying the past. There will be no tomorrow.”

At his workshop in an industrial Hong Kong neighborhood, Chan unveils his latest invention: a type of porcelain that he has been developing for more than seven years. The material, which he claims is five times stronger than steel in small, jewelry-sized quantities, can be used to make wearable objects. While the porcelain’s strength is yet to be independently verified, he drops a porcelain ring onto a hard floor as a demonstration.

It doesn’t shatter.

“A creator doesn’t only pursue ephemeral works, but creations that can last for eternity,” Chan explains, pointing to the various stages of porcelain-making in his laboratory.

First, raw components are carefully mixed and heated at a consistent temperature. This results in a chalky white disc which can be chiseled and carved into rings or other items of jewelry. These unfinished forms are then fired in a kiln, before being rigorously polished and buffed so that, “the light appears to float on the surface,” as Chan puts it.

The porcelain is then joined with titanium fixtures that help set the gemstones.

The idea of creating “unbreakable” porcelain, as it is widely referred to (although Chan interjects that “everything” is ultimately breakable), can be traced back to his childhood.

Growing up in a poor family, Chan recalls that he and his siblings were only allowed to eat with plastic utensils, while his parents used porcelain. One day, while his parents were out, he went to play with a porcelain spoon and accidentally smashed it to pieces. He was punished for it, but the incident sparked a lifetime of curiosity toward the properties of porcelain.

After years of experimenting with other materials and gemstones, Chan keeps returning to this material, seeing it as the epitome of luxury.

“For traditional (setting) materials, after you wear for a year, its shine will fade,” he says. “But porcelain is forever.”

“Ten, twenty, a hundred years and it will still shine. And when you wear it, you can feel its intimacy,” he adds, demonstrating how, as a ring, the material seems to hug his fingers.

Chan is still in the process of refining the material and techniques, but he says that dental experts, watchmakers and material designers have all expressed interest in his invention.

“I want to put the wonder out there,” he says. “To show the potential and possibilities of such a graceful, cultural and historic material to the world.”