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Sculptor dazzles with jewelry designs
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JEWELRY, in the eyes of many, reveals a woman’s tastes, social status and lifestyle. But for Cheng Yijie, jewelry is a wearable sculpture and sculpture is physical poetry.
A graduate of the sculpture department at Shanghai University’s Fine Arts College, the 28-year-old founded her own jewelry brands YIJ-Cheng and YIJ-Light two years ago.
Today her pieces frequently appear in fashion shoots at ELLE and Vogue magazines, and more clients are going to her for tailored ornaments. Following her exhibition in Shanghai, Cheng plans to showcase her “wearable sculpture” in Beijing, Chengdu and Kunming.
Clad in a white T-shirt and blue jeans, Cheng appears more like a pretty fresh graduate than a high-minded designer.
“Don’t judge a person by his or her appearance,” Cheng says with a chuckle.
On the surface, she seems born with luck — she never worries about her belly or back, as her family has a strong business background. Her good looks even drew film directors to invite her on their movies. And unlike some rich second-generation Chinese, Cheng is equipped with profound skills in piano, violin, calligraphy and realistic ink-wash painting.
“I was asked to learn many skills by my mother when I was a little girl,” she says. “My mother is a strict woman who heavily influenced me.”
She recalls that sometimes her mother would “slap her face” because of inappropriate etiquette in her childhood.
Yet she didn’t hate her mother even for a moment, because she knew that “mummy was doing good for me.”
When talking about the first jewelry piece she made, Cheng says it was made for her mother.
“My mother prefers to wear jadeite, but you know how terrible those old designs are, so I volunteered to make one for her,” she says, “and it becomes one of her favorite pieces.”
As her parents hoped, Cheng finally grew up into a “fair lady,” if only on the surface.
“I am actually very boyish, and I prefer to take challenges in areas that I am unfamiliar with,” she says. “I am always excited at digging into the unexpected side in life.”
However, life hasn’t always been smooth for Cheng. She is a single mother of a three-year-old son.
“That’s the biggest blow in my life, and I really struggled for a long time to ease myself. After all, it is not bad, perhaps I had a too easy life before,” she says. “Life is just fair to everyone who will savor the sweetness and the bitterness.”
Cheng loves traveling. “I like India, Cuba, Iran and Morocco. They once represented the highest-level civilization, and I wanted to find my inspiration there,” she says.
A typical Gemini, Cheng loves to play extreme sports while at the same time she also practices calligraphy on rice paper every day for several hours.
“Believe it or not, sometimes I wish that I could appear ordinary or even ugly so people would ignore my appearance and look deeper into my heart,” she says.
Although she now runs a promising business in jewelry design, she confesses it might not be long.
When asked whether she would ever pursue a new venture in the future, she smiles, “Very possible. I studied sculpture at the university, and I might return to pure art in the future, who knows?”
Q: When you were small, you learnt piano, violin, calligraphy and ink-wash painting, so why did you choose sculpture as your major?
A: I studied at Shanghai High School, a top high school in the city that might lead to the country’s top universities. Perhaps I was a bit rebellious, especially when I heard my father’s words that only those students who were not good at mathematics, English and Chinese would apply for the art academy. I did it just in a fit of pique, and I wanted to prove that I am not only good at studying, but could excel in art as well.
Q: What’s been the biggest gain from your family, since you were born into a rich one?
A: True, I’m lucky. The biggest gain from my family is that I never fear losing and am always ready to make a new start. I am grateful to my mother, because she didn’t only tell me to learn piano, violin, calligraphy and painting, but she also taught me to do housework. I am a very good cook. See, I am not a princess, but rather a “cowgirl.”
Q: Why did you switch from sculpture to jewelry design?
A: Frankly speaking, in my eyes, only those who don’t need money to support their lives are suited to make art, as they don’t need to create something to please others, thus their art is more pure. The reason why I switched from sculpture to jewelry design is simple: because I was pregnant. Jewelry design, for me, is a mini-sculpture.
Q: Who’s your favorite artist?
A: I like the sculptures of Degas, very traditional and classical. But my favorite artist is Egon Schiele (1890-1918), an Austrian Expressionist painter.
Q: It is so strange that you yourself don’t wear any accessories, while you are actually a jewelry designer.
A: I am glad that you noticed that. Perhaps I have made too many ornaments, and it no longer interests me to wear them. But in the past, I loved vintage jewelry. For me, a piece of jewelry must have something that resonates with your. For example, when my clients come to me, they would often tell me their personal stories. Sometimes it might just be an ordinary stone, but this stone could have a strong emotional link with a particular person in their life, and all I tried is to reflect the link between their story and the material in my design. Each piece has a “basic script.”
Q: As a jewelry designer, what’s your favorite material?
A: Enamel. The craftsmanship in making enamel in ancient China reached such a climax. But it is a pity that there are not many veteran craftsmen in this area today.
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: I like diving. When you are deep in the sea, everything is just so quiet, and all I experience is solitude. At such moments, I feel that I can see myself more clearly.
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