How high jewellery houses are using techniques like ‘lost wax’ and unorthodox metals such as aluminium and titanium, from Van Cleef & Arpels and Cindy Chao to JAR and Hong Kong’s Forms

Jul 27 , 2024

The Spring brooch from Cindy Chao’s Four Seasons collection is an example of how today’s high jewellers are using ancient techniques as well as unorthodox materials to craft their pieces. Photos: Handout

Van Cleef & Arpels and Cindy Chao use the ancient cire perdue, or ‘lost wax’, casting technique for their delicate creations, while Joel Arthur Rosenthal and Hemmerle are turning to aluminium

Rather than casting, Hong Kong-based Forms uses computerised numerical control – an ultra-precise method of cutting metal – before working on a piece’s final shape and texture by hand

One of the oldest techniques used in jewellery making is cire perdue – meaning “lost wax” in French. It is a casting technique used by Van Cleef & Arpels to create its dainty little ballerina figures, by Cindy Chao to create her fragile lifelike flora and fauna masterpieces, and by the great sculptors whose magnificent bronzes fill galleries and art institutions. It can be used at micro-scale for jewellery or for vast sculptures like Wallace Chan’s titanium Titans.

The technique involves producing a model of the sculpture consisting of a thin layer of wax over a heat-resistant core of clay or plaster. The wax is then in turn covered with another heat-resistant layer, and after the wax is melted and drained off, molten metal is poured into the cavity that the “lost wax” has created

In jewellery there is no inner core, however, so artists like Cindy Chao carve directly into a special jeweller’s wax. “I typically start with wax sculpting because this technique helps me tremendously with concretising my imagination and visualising my art jewel,” said Chao. “This cannot easily be achieved through two-dimensional sketches alone.”

She captures fleeting moments in the life cycle of her subject – such as a leaf or a dragonfly – and once satisfied, marks out precisely where each of the thousands of precious gemstones will sit in the finished piece.

Hemmerle earrings in peridot, glass, aluminium and white gold

This model is then sent to Chao’s atelier in Europe to be cast and transformed into shimmering reality.

Although 18k gold and silver might traditionally have been used with this technique, Chao and other creators are increasingly turning to titanium for its lightness, providing the opportunity to scale up a jewel into a larger brooch, as well as the ability to colour it using a chemical anodising process to blend with the hues of gemstones. The metal is very challenging to work with, however, because unlike 18k gold, it is very hard.

Forms sapphire, diamond and aluminium ring

Aluminium is another metal that is finding favour in jewellery circles for its lightness. Unlike the aluminium used in food packaging, this is a special alloy that can similarly be anodised in different colours to create a backdrop for the gemstones in a piece. Renowned brands like JAR – from Paris-based American jeweller Joel Arthur Rosenthal – Munich-based Hemmerle and Hong Kong’s own Forms use aluminium to mould their spectacular designs. Techniques differ and are constantly refined.

Some designers choose to shape their jewels from hard sheets that have already been dyed. At Hemmerle though, aluminium in its pre-anodised, malleable state is sculpted into the desired shape, then set with gemstones and anodised