Jeweller Cindy Chao’s museum-worthy creations

The Taiwanese master jeweller never ceases to surprise with

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(Image credit: MLEVASLOT 2019)

In January this year, in a suite at Paris’ Hotel Ritz, Cindy Chao weighed jewellery using French patisserie as her measure. “It’s a two-macaron weight!” she said, an iridescent brooch in the shape of a butterfly resting in her gloved hand.

The Taiwanese designer first launched her self-funded business – Cindy Chao The Art Jewel – in 2004; in 2007, she started the annual tradition of unveiling a single butterfly brooch. Her kaleidoscope has included butterfly specimens set with brilliant white diamonds and Delft blue sapphires (2012), cabochon- cut rubies and rough diamonds (2010), and rose-hued conch pearls (2013). Each brooch took more than 18 months to finish, and the waiting list of prospective buyers stretches to 2023. Chao’s latest four-winged creation, the blueish Aurora butterfly brooch, is cast from lightweight titanium and sparkles with a total of 6,023 gemstones, among them Burmese rubies, sapphires and yellow diamonds.

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