Infinite Inspiration
High jewellery artist Cindy Chao celebrates her first architectural installation art exhibition, The Endless Realm
Having built a global reputation for her East-meets-west design philosophy and her organic and architectural high jewellery creations, Cindy Chao The Art Jewel’s international expansion seemed inevitable. In June, the brand celebrated just this, choosing Shanghai for The Endless Realm,a three-dimensional installation art exhibition at the Fosun Foundation in Shanghai.
Highlighting the brand’s journey and evolution through the years, the exhibition space was transformed through the artistic collaboration with Dutch artist Tom Postma. Chao and Postma brought the venue to life, playing with the architecture
of the space to complement the unique forms of Chao’s designs.
The Endless Realm consisted of three separate experiential installations, held across three floors: Inspiration Initiation, The
Land of Art and Endless Exploration.
The first, designed to suggest the unfurling of a parchment scroll, consisted of a series of sketches and drawings projected on an Ledilluminated canvas. A jewellery landscape painting highlights the inspiration behind some of Chao’s most notable designs as they flash through the artist’s mind.
For The Land of Art, the secondfloor space was cloaked from floor to ceiling with a plush black fabric, drawing a sharper focus to the room’s unique detailing. A mirrored, flooded floor created the illusion of a floating sea, while an illuminated ceiling with twinkling lights encapsulated the beauty of a starlit sky.
Sitting in the centre of this display was a semi-transparent “floating” pavilion, containing 20 unique pieces from the Black Label collection. Each of Chao’s designs was encased in a bronze woodland. The unique design was enhanced with a lighting system that made the jewellery appear afloat, creating an infinite and endless effect within the space. Adding to the sensorial experience of an enchanted forest, a discreet speaker system was installed, emitting the sounds of rippling water and wind, while the room was lightly perfumed with the smell of grass after a rainstorm.
The third-floor space was dedicated to key milestones through Chao’s creative journey, from being inducted into the Victoria and Albert Museum to record-breaking auctions and exhibits at prestigious art fairs, and features 12 designs from the White Label collection.
The Endless Realm demonstrated Chao’s relentless artistic spirit and the boundless sources of inspiration she continues to draw from. The installation art exhibition allowed visitors to engage in a multisensorial artistic experience with her art jewellery for the first time, allowing the unique beauty of Chao’s designs to shine.