Bifei Cao won the 2018 AJF Artist Award and went on to teach at the School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology, in China. We asked him to collaborate with us on this photo essay, which provides a peek into his recent book, Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design. Cao provided spreads from his 320-page volume.
Charon Kransen Arts stocks the book. “Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design gives an amazing insight in how this field has developed in a relatively short period,” says Kransen. “University jewelry and metal departments all over the world—Australia, Europe, US, etc.—are closing or scaling down. But not in China: new departments, great facilities, and many students.
“Most departments there are headed by jewelry artists who have almost all studied abroad for a number of years: Bifei Cao, Wang Kezhen, Shannon Guo, Jie Sun, Viviane Wang, and Dai Xiang, just to mention a few,” continues Kransen. “Needless to say, they have influenced the next generation of jewelry artists, and that, without a doubt, explains the growing interest in contemporary jewelry as a profession in China. Having left behind the traditional classical symbolism, artists have been inspired by a newfound freedom in using techniques, materials, and concepts, and the results can be seen in this great overview. We should be enormously grateful to Bifei for this publication, which is truly a labor of love.”
Click on the photos to learn about what they show.
Charon Kransen Arts presents jewelry, hollowware, and accessories by both renowned and emerging artists, and distributes books and exhibition catalogs on all aspects of jewelry, metal, and design.
!["table of contents"](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/1_102420x20768.jpg "\"In this book, says Bifei Cao, "I include the history and development of jewelry design in China between 1990 and 2020, including the phases of Early Exploration (1990–1999), New Voice (2000–2007), Adaption and Communication (2008–2012), and Great Flux (2013–2020). Each chapter is divided by historic or cultural movements and contemporary jewelry activities." | A spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, by Bifei Cao, image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing\"")
!["a spread from the foreword by Guo Xin"](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2_102420x20768.jpg "\"The book has a foreword by Guo Xin, one of the distinguished pioneers who launched different events and movements of Chinese contemporary jewelry, explains Cao. "She shares her insights about what has been set up and what happened during her generation." | A spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, by Bifei Cao, image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing\"")
!["a spread from the introduction"](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/3_102420x20768.jpg "\"This is the first book that records the different forces shaping contemporary jewelry design in mainland China, says Cao. "The contemporary jewelry movement in China is in a situation of casting on the threshold—it’s in the process of casting between global references and Chinese traditional roots." | A spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, by Bifei Cao, image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing\"")
!["a spread from Chapter 1"](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/4_102420x20768.jpg "\"The first chapter gives a very simple analysis of some characteristics of traditional Chinese jewelry, says Cao. "Those historic and cultural adornments built a foundation for developments in contemporary Chinese jewelry." | A spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, by Bifei Cao, image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing\"")
!["a spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design"](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/7_102420x20768.jpg "\"Says Cao, "The New Voice chapter, situated in 2000–2007, describes the evolution of existing jewelry programs in Chinese universities and colleges that departed from the requirements of jewelry manufactures. This course stimulated diverse directions for the development of both the university jewelry programs and the jewelry industry." | A spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, by Bifei Cao, image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing\"")
!["a spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design"](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/11_102420x20768.jpg "\"Through an expansion of exhibitions, says Cao, "China has become a bridge linking overseas artists and Chinese artists in the field of contemporary jewelry, not only providing a great flow of ideas and cultures between overseas and China but also promoting those ideas of Chinese contemporary jewelry to local communities and audiences." | A spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, by Bifei Cao, image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing\"")
!["a spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design"](https://artjewelryforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/15_102420x20768.jpg "\"I’m a metalsmith and a maker, says Cao. "This book gives my personal viewpoint, through systematic investigations and observations, of the phenomena in the development of contemporary jewelry in China. I predict growth over the next few decades and see an increasing number of programs for contemporary jewelry, and more international jewelry exhibitions and events as well as great artistic integration between the world and China. I really appreciate every effort from all the contributors, and thank Schiffer Publishing for the invitation to produce the book." | A spread from Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, by Bifei Cao, image courtesy of Schiffer Publishing\"")
