Gem Legends 6

Wallace Chan – A Mystical Mind

Wallace Chan is a master of his mind. His wearable art begins with a personal introspective to connect with his gemstones. This process which starts with deep meditation allows Chan to materialize his thoughts. He mentally transports himself to become one with special gems.

By Dan Scott

If this seems too ethereal, or perhaps dismissed as a clever marketing way to romance his designs, you'll soon discover the mystical mind of Wallace Chan is as grounded in science as it is soulful in spirit. Displaying a balance of extreme opposites, Wallace Chan's childhood was fraught in dire poverty and is the "yin" to his presently successful "yang."

Born in 1956 in Fuzhou, China, his family moved to Hong Kong when he was five years old. Chan faced many challenges in his early years, one as basic as hunger. Yet, even in his early years, Chan was able to channel a natural desire to seek food into a yearning to feed his mind.

He recalls nurturing his curiosity as a child. He picked up fallen twigs from a tree and dangerously began to insert them into an electric fan. He found he could control the variance of each stick's frayed end when it was cut by the spinning fan blades. Yet, it was his inspection of the coarsely cut twigs that set his young mind racing. He focused on what the freshly cut stick ends revealed... dewy, brilliantly green hues of life.

What outwardly appeared to be dull, dead sticks of wood now exposed a vibrant, jade-green color from unexposed plant life. Holding one in his hand, Chan envisioned a flower blooming from it and so, at age 8, he made that his reality by crafting plastic flower petals. Perhaps this is why many of Chan's finest offerings are floral in nature. It is also a nod to his adoration of brilliant green hues, and his ability to transform precious gemstones into radiating insect art and other intriguing life forms of jewelry from the Wallace Chan garden of imagination.

Lacking any traditional early education, Chan didn't have the skill set to read or write as a child. When he did attend school, he was forced to leave at 13 to support his struggling family. It is important to consider this harsh upbringing as it would stifle the success of many, but Chan is not "many." While the designer is gentle in his outward demeanor, there is a fiery passion and a highly determined spirit that lives within. It is this energy, Chan drew on at 16 years of age as a gemstone carving apprentice.

Only eight months later, he felt he had to learn more, so he departed those classes to be instructed on how to illustrate and paint. At 17, he combined these two sets of skills and established his own gemstone carving workshop. In these teenage years, he began to sharpen his skills by carving raised intaglio and sunken cameo reliefs. Many years later, this would be introduced into gemstones, now known as the famed "Wallace cut."

This form of custom gemstone carving is a highly precise, deep and exclusive process created by Chan, hence the name. It allows light to reflect through the gemstone and provide the carved image a mirror-like, multiple and exact duplication presence of the carved image within the stone. Reflections appear in the tiniest detail. Wisps of a goddess' hair or the tiny gills of a goldfish are sharply in focus, and seem to move with the wearer through the gemstone faceted reflections. The "Wallace cut" is coveted as by his collectors and distinctively branded as his own.

Chan's art lives gracefully at home on the the human form, and also at home on elite coffee tables. Enter a limited edition luxury book entitled, Dream, Light, Water, released in 2016. With only 2,000 numbered copies in English and Chinese versions, no reprints will ever be made available. This project (and strategy) speak to a seldom discussed, but nonetheless highly dynamic business talent. Chan is a seasoned self-branding expert with a sharp marketing mind.    

He is quick to insist that he doesn't forecast his brand future in any form of marketing plan, so that he may focus on whatever design he is creating to make it the very finest possible. Clearly, a portion of his brain is on marketing overdrive, perhaps subconsciously, since tools like a monograph book of this caliber, and what he did surrounding it are, in some ways, as remarkable as his craft.

This is evident in the 380-page book featuring 260 photographs, in which Chan art-directed 86 of his designs. Each emphasize key details of gemstones, metals, technical innovation and the artist's vision behind the creations. It's clearly a collector's piece, especially with such a low number of books that were printed.

Branding his signature above the title, not below, and calling it out in red, the highlight color of the publication, is another simple, but effective branding style. Using a four-color black ink (the richest and most desired form of black in publications) as the background for his photographs, and a hefty satin-finished paper allows his creations to jump off the page. This style of image presentation is seen on his website and any image Chan releases to the media, such as those featured herein.

In a bigger than life moment, Chan elected to publish one copy of the same book in a very unexpected and giant way. So large in scale is the one-of-a-kind book, it requires a special platform and two hands to turn a page. What better place to feature this book than Chan's own studio in Hong Kong? That is where it remains on display to this day.

Wouldn't such a luxury book, complete with a giant-size version of itself, be a captivating way to intrigue the most discerning audience? Indeed it was, and is. In 2017, Harvard welcomed Chan as a featured speaker with his book's artful images ushering in his entrance. The irony is awe inspiring. A poverty-stricken boy who struggled with formal education is now an ivy-league keynote speaker, published author and world famous jewelry artisan. These accomplishments are jaw-dropping in their own right, but Chan has many more surprises. Some thought the clever, huge, hardbound book should tour with Chan. It doesn't. A giant gemstone flower upstaged it.

Chan's gift of supreme creation has provided him with a beautiful life, rich beyond financial gain. His highly successful day-to-day is founded on contentment. Several factors are at play here with one commonality: a Zen-like balance of self-taught skills and a natural ability to often see what others cannot, until he provides them with such vision.

Beyond Chan's intense attention to detail in design, gemstone cutting and specialized settings - each that require explanation - Chan is highly proficient in technology and science.

Most celebrated creatives share a common weakness in analytical thought. For Chan, his left and right brain communicate as one, and electrify his mind to invent constantly. And those inventions are not limited to gemstones. He crafts his own tools and is a modern-day alchemist, blending chemistry and refined philosophy to conjure up amazing new elements and creations.

If a material Chan chooses to work with has a shortcoming, such as the delicate properties of porcelain, Chan will improve it. Such was the case when he devoted over seven years to perfect his version of porcelain.

Bending technology and bending minds, Chan introduced a new form of porcelain that shatters the notion that porcelain shatters. While you shouldn't drop your grandmother's porcelain tea set, you could take a hammer to Chan's porcelain jewelry, which is five times harder than steel, and the designer is quick to prove it to those with doubts.

Chan's art often commands the highest bids at auction and routinely attracts the most discriminating, ultra-high net worth individuals as buyers. Some who invest in a Wallace Chan design have been said to experience a type of magical sensation when holding or wearing it.

  A London-based female jewelry lover and investor commented, "I'm quite fortunate to own several wonderful pieces of high jewelry, but my collection is simply incomplete without a Wallace Chan design. You can feel an energy that exudes from his work... It's truly magical." Magic of this form understandably comes with a high price tag.  

While Chan's work is known from his use of vibrant gems manifesting marvelous butterflies and exotic floral high jewelry, he has been known to show a darker and mysterious side. Welcome to “Dead but Sentient.” For this intriguing sculpture, he selected obsidian as the core element. Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic black glass formed from extrusive igneous rock. Felsic lava (or "flowing life" to Chan) erupts from specific types of volcanos and then quickly cools, forming a black, glossy crystal.

Chan, like others, believes certain crystals omit frequencies delivering a mystical and at times healing quality to those who own them. This speaks to the ancient legend of black obsidian, and the meaning "cleansing psychic smog" that may be clouding your aura. Obsidian has been regarded as a strong form of psychic protection and allegedly protects those around it. 

Protection is an important theme in this alluringly macabre piece featuring a black cobra accented with 18K gold. The snake is ready to strike those who try and plunk the ever-growing golden flower of life emanating from a blackened skull of death.

This living legend chisels, carves, forms and sets polished gemstone expressions. Each stone is touched by this master craftsman, culled from digging out from a dark and rocky personal past, cut to seemingly radiate their own light as gifts to the wearer.

Soulful and scientific, Chan's childhood mind has sparked a rare talent now ablaze. This fiercely creative fire will not be extinguished, rather burn forever into the future. As if to uphold a mystical torch to symbolize victory, Wallace Chan is lighting the way to newfound art for those who choose to truly see.

All photos are courtesy of Wallace Chan unless otherwise specified.

Author Dan Scott is a Brand Architect with Luxe Licensing with current and past clients including Harry Winston, Chanel and Gucci jewelry as well as newly launched brands. He welcomes conversation and is available at dans@luxelicening.com.