Chu Jewelry

In my childhood, I was profoundly influenced by my dad, who was a passionate Feng-Shui consultant. He was often going to people’s home and instructing them about where to place different rooms and furniture so that this placement would accord with the magnetic fields and bring such people luck and balance. He emphasized the five elements (wood, fire, earth, gold, water) and would explain that a bathroom (representing water) and a kitchen(representing fire) should not be placed directly next to one another as they are conflicting forces. Having been so exposed to such ideas, I become increasingly interested in the idea of complementarity, of Yin-Yang. I believe that opposites are important as they both help us to see and allow us balance. For instance, we understand and see light precisely because darkness also exists. In life, we are led to seek harmony among a series of opposing forces.

I wish to create designs that convey light and shadow as opposites and as complementary forces. My work also explores cycles, movement and balance. Some pieces are made in a pair represented as binary opposites. I focus on transitions in my jewelry through colors, shapes, forms and composition. In my piece “Northern Solstice,” I incorporated the idea of transitions from semi-opaque grey to transparent color. Also, I created a balance of stiffness and softness between strung acrylics on the vinyl tubing and human bodies.

I have also incorporated other techniques in my recent work such us, Suminagashi, a Japanese paper marbling technique, which involves floating color inks on the surface of water and result in circular rings and patterns. I am so intrigued by the marbled patterns and washed out effects on paper. So, I used this technique with paper-thin porcelain. The intricate swirling patterns and circular rings symbolize cycles and the constant impact of one object upon anther so that there is not a sense of opposites or imbalance. And, I also affixed an LED light behind a diffuser. I believe the light, which goes through the translucent porcelain can emphasize the contrast between the black and white. This demonstrates how light becomes shadow, how shadow becomes light; one can’t live without the other. They exist in balance and harmony.