Evergreen

By using leftover nephrite to make jewelry, Evergreen includes necklaces, breast pieces and brooches. The ideas of eastern jade culture are reconsidered and reconstructed in the project. With first-hand observation of the jade industry in China, an inner story is revealed, and a more ecological, humanistic and creative design approach is provided. The research gives us deeper insights into the complex networks of the stone, the technologies, the ethnic memories and the wearing cultures.

In the nephrite artifacts industry, Qinghai nephrite is usually made into large wholesale vessels, because it isn’t considered a very precious type of gemstone. In order to make the container hollow, the material inside is always divided into several concentric cylinders, cut down and removed out. Such a process seems natural, and the manufacturers in Nanyang produce tons of these cylinders every day. But if the stone becomes more difficult to obtain in the future, we won't waste it like this.

The jargon "zhaohuo" means discovering a stone's potential. The idea can be a strategy to discover the hidden vitality in the rigid industrial chain. In the project, the leftovers of beads and tea sets are collected intentionally, cut with minimal waste, and polished as if they were of the finest texture. Moreover, the thin-wall technique (bo tai) is a key technical point. The thin slices (1.8 mm) make jewelry lighter but won’t be dragged apart by gravity because of its dense mineral structure. Technology is both historical and cultural. The transparency of the thin-wall symbolizes the transnational and transcultural nature of jade technology.

The jewelry makes crisp sounds when the thin jade chain is gently shaken. People could interact with it not only by seeing and touching it, but also by listening to it. The experience is different from the one we have when wearing a single piece of jade ornament or small beads. The sound is important because it evokes our old memories of jade culture. When wearing it, the body is always restrained by the jewelry. The wearer needs to slow down and become aware of what they are doing.