Spring, nature, sustainability: three ideas that made the new Anabela Chan collection flourish. The series of earrings and brooches from the Blooms collection were created with a revolutionary idea: they are made with recycled aluminum. The metal is that of the beverage cans. Reused, and combined with gold and gems created in the laboratory, it becomes a material for refined jewelry. Judge for yourself: just look at these images to understand that recycling even the most humble materials can turn into sustainable luxury.
The project, explains the London-based Hong Kong designer, has lasted two and a half years, since 2017. Before arriving at this exceptional result, Anabela Chan experimented with many attempts in the melting and refining processes of aluminum cans, expired at a temperature of 600 degrees centigrade. And then, after being transformed into metal bars, used in combination with the traditional artisanal method of lost wax casting. The metal takes on intense colors, sometimes iridescent.
The jewels then took the form of exuberant flowers, with the addition of synthetic, but quality gems, often with an unusual cut, such as the trilliant one. The elements were worked by hand, individually. Even the choice of using synthetic gemstones was really decided out of respect for the nature and conditions of those working on the extraction. Indeed, Anabela Chan says she was shocked after a visit to the mines of Sri Lanka.
