For its 20th anniversary, CINDY CHAO The Art Jewel transforms feathers into intricate brooches.
CINDY CHAO The Art Jewel is a name revered among collectors for its sculptural, museum-quality creations, even if it remains less familiar to the wider public. The brand is a reflection of its founder Cindy Chao’s dual heritage: trained by her sculptor father and architect grandfather, she approaches jewellery with both a sculptor’s touch and an architect’s eye. Each piece begins as a hand-carved wax model, allowing her to explore movement, structure and light long before the first gemstone is set.
The feather has emerged as one of her most defining signatures. Its journey began in 2016, when Cindy presented the Phoenix Feather Brooch at the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris, inspired by the Belle Époque era, when feathers adorned fashion and interiors. That first piece later sold for USD1.21 million at Christie’s Hong Kong, cementing the motif ’s place in her oeuvre.
Today, as the brand celebrates its 20th anniversary, Cindy revisits the feather with a series of brooches. One of them features a three-carat marquise fancy intense yellow diamond at its centre, surrounded by diamonds, yellow diamonds, greyish green sapphires, greyish blue sapphires and tsavorites, all set in titanium. The piece contains an astonishing 3,693 gemstones totalling 78.51 carats, each placed to follow the fluid curves of the twisted feather, creating a sense of motion and lightness.
Another brooch is built around a whopping eight-carat flame step cut fancy brown-yellow IF Type IIa diamond (known for its rarity and internal flawlessness). Accented with diamonds, tsavorites, greyish blue sapphires, greyish green sapphires and a colour-change sapphire, it comprises 4,015 gemstones and totals 76.3 carats. A third design centres on a four-carat marquise fancy brown-yellow diamond, yellow diamonds and brown diamonds, set in titanium and ox horn, with a total of 2,835 gemstones (73.91 carats). In each piece, the feathers appear suspended mid-air, twisting along a 180-degree arc, as if caught in a breeze.
Light in appearance, the brooches are made from titanium (one of the most challenging metals in jewellery), which allows volume but demands precision. The titanium form is set with cushion-cut diamonds and gemstones using a double-sided technique, with stones placed across and between layers to control depth and light, resulting in a jewel that feels alive.