香港設計師把時尚融入玉飾設計

Beyond Green Jade

香港設計師把時尚融入玉飾設計

HONG KONG — It’s often called the stone of heaven and is believed to ward off evil.

香港——它經常被稱為天國之石，人們相信它有辟邪的作用。

The Chinese have long been fascinated by jade — many people you pass on the street here, men and women alike, wear a bracelet or pendant — but soaring demand for the traditional deep-green color has designers increasingly turning to lavender, black, yellow and even colorless, or clear, jade.

中國人對玉石的迷戀由來已久，走過街頭，可以看到許多男女戴著玉石手鐲或吊墜——隨著對傳統(tǒng)翡翠玉石的需求飆升，如今設計師也越來越多地轉向淡紫色、黑色、黃色甚至是無色透明的玉石飾品。

In prices, “there has been an upward growth these five to six years, mainly due to the economic strength of the mainland Chinese market,” said Chiang Shiu-fung, associate vice president of Christie’s Hong Kong and a jewelry specialist.

在價格方面，“最近五六年，主要是因為大陸市場的的經濟實力在增強，玉石價格也持續(xù)走高，” 香港佳士得助理副總裁及珠寶專家蔣肇豐說。

Jewelry designers in Hong Kong have turned to other colors as traditional green jade becomes more expensive and hard to get. Michelle Ong, the owner and designer of the Hong Kong jewelry brand Carnet, said it took her several years to collect jade in the right size and form to create this necklace of gourd-shaped yellow jadeite and diamonds.

為了設計花朵形狀的胸針和鉆石項鏈，米歇爾·翁花費了幾年時間收集形狀大小合適的玉石。

A jade necklace that once belonged to the American heiress Barbara Hutton was sold last year by Sotheby’s Hong Kong for $27.44 million, a record auction price for jade jewelry. The piece, which had been estimated to sell for $12.8 million, featured round, perfectly matched green beads with a ruby and diamond clasp by Cartier, which made the winning bid.

去年香港蘇富比以2744萬美元的價格拍出了美國名媛芭芭拉·霍頓(Barbara Hutton)的一條翡翠項鏈，創(chuàng)下了玉石首飾的拍賣紀錄。這件首飾預估價在1280萬美元，翡翠圓珠完美地搭配著卡地亞鑲配的紅寶石鑲鉆鏈扣，最后亦被卡地亞拍下。

It is such prices that have been changing the jade market.

這樣的高價持續(xù)在改變著玉石市場的狀況。

“When someone is spending millions of dollars purchasing a jadeite piece of jewelry, they are only concerned about the quality of the jade and not so much the design,” said Eddy Hui, artistic director of Edward Chiu Jewellery Art, a boutique in Hong Kong’s Central district that specializes in contemporary jade pieces. “They tend to stick with very traditional and simple styles because the value of the stone prohibits them from being too fashion-forward.

“人們花費成千上百萬美元購買硬玉首飾，他們介意的只是玉本身的質量，而非首飾的設計，”愛德華·邱珠寶藝術(Edward Chiu Jewellery Art)的藝術指導艾迪·許(Eddy Hui，音譯)說，這是一家坐落在香港中環(huán)上的精品店，專營當代玉石首飾。“他們喜歡非常傳統(tǒng)、非常簡單的款式，因為硬玉價格太高，設計上不能過于追求時尚。”

“But we have been advocating other colors, which are more reasonably priced, and we can be more daring and creative, making jadeite jewels more relevant to the fashionable customer,” he said.

“但是我們正在以更為合理的價格推出其他顏色的玉石，這樣就可以更大膽、更具創(chuàng)意，讓硬玉首飾更加貼近時尚消費人群，”他說。

Price difference

價格差異

To illustrate, Mr. Hui held up two pairs of jadeite earrings of identical design, oval disks with a cut-out pattern. The white jade was listed at 110,000 Hong Kong dollars, or $14,193; the green was 250,000 dollars, more than double the price.

為了說明自己的觀點，許先生拿出兩對款式相同的硬玉耳環(huán)，它們都是剪紙風格的橢圓形，白色的一對價格是11萬港元，約合14193美元;綠色的一對要賣25萬港元，是白色耳環(huán)的一倍還多。

In the Chiu shop, where merchandise is displayed in gilded birdcages, Mr. Hui also showed a flower bracelet, part of the company’s Lady Lavender collection. A combination of petals in lavender jade accented with black jade, ruby spinels and diamonds mounted in 18-karat white gold, it sells for 2.3 million dollars.

在愛德華·邱店內，商品都被陳列在鍍金的鳥籠里，許先生向我們出示了一款雕花手鐲，它屬于公司的“薰衣草女郎”(Lady Lavender)系列。手鐲上有淡紫色玉石的花瓣，配合著黑色玉石以及鑲嵌在18K白金上的紅晶石和鉆石，手鐲售價230萬港元。

Mr. Hui said he would not make such a daring design in green jade, as a top-quality stone in that color could be put to more profitable use. “A jeweler will probably harvest the stone and make several pairs of earrings or pendants that will give a better yield,” he said.

許先生說，他不會在綠色翡翠玉石上采用這樣大膽的設計，頂尖質量的綠翡翠要用在更加有利可圖的地方。“一件首飾可能主要使用一塊石頭開出的玉石做成，邊角料還可以做幾對耳環(huán)或幾個吊墜，這樣就可以物盡其用，”他說。

Jade actually is a general term for two substances, nephrite and jadeite. Nephrite, which is durable and looks opaque (the Chinese call it “mutton fat”), has been used since prehistoric times to create objects from utensils to weapons. Jadeite, the more valuable stone, with a quartz-like or translucent appearance, is more commonly used for jewelry and was prized by Chinese emperors during the Qing dynasty (mid-1600s to 1912). Its growing popularity has even some Western jewelry designers, such as David Webb in New York and the Paris house JAR, featuring jade in their designs.

“玉石”其實是軟玉和硬玉這兩種質材的統(tǒng)稱。軟玉更耐久，是不透明的，中文稱之為“羊脂”，從史前時代就用來制作各種物品，從廚具到武器應有盡有。硬玉翡翠更加昂貴，呈石英狀或半透明狀，主要用于制作首飾，深受清王朝(17世紀中期到1912年)的各位帝王喜愛。它目前也愈來愈受到西方珠寶設計師的青睞，紐約的大衛(wèi)·韋伯(David Webb)和巴黎品牌JAR都在設計中使用了玉石。

Today, most jadeite comes from Myanmar. But “top-quality Burmese jadeite is becoming rare to find,” another factor driving up prices, said Mr. Chiang of Christie’s.

如今，大多數硬玉產自緬甸。但是“頂尖的緬甸硬玉愈來愈難以尋覓”，佳士得的蔣先生說，這也是價格上漲的另一個原因。

Christie’s Hong Kong, which has opened a sales department for clients who do not want to wait for its twice-yearly auctions, stocks jewelry in clear and lavender jade in addition to green. Mr. Chiang displayed one of its pieces, a ring with a cabochon-style piece of colorless jadeite.

香港佳士得為不愿等待一年兩次拍賣會的客戶開設了一個銷售部門，除了翡翠玉之外，還出售透明和淡紫色的玉石首飾。蔣先生展示了其中一件物品：用透明硬玉制成的凸面寶石風格戒指。

“White jadeite has always been loved by the Chinese. They carve religious figures like the deity Guanyin with more opaque white because the color stands for purity,” he said, referring to the Buddhist goddess of mercy. And “for more fashionable designs, a clear jadeite ring looks very contemporary.”

“中國人一直都很喜歡白色硬玉。他們用更具不透明感的白玉來雕刻觀音等佛像，因為白色象征著純潔，”——在佛教中，觀音是慈悲的象征。此外，“在更為時尚的設計中，清澈透明的硬玉戒指非常有當代感。”

The Chiu boutique also has pieces in yellow and red jade, which Mr. Hui said are favored by European customers. “Yellow complements the fair skin tone of Caucasian clients,” he noted.

愛德華·邱店內也出售黃玉和紅玉首飾，許先生說，歐洲顧客對這兩樣質材格外青睞。“黃色能襯托高加索人白皙的皮膚，”他說。

While Chiu Jewellery Art focuses on dramatic, high-fashion styles, Kai-yin Lo, a self-taught designer in Hong Kong who began working with jade in the 1970s, has a more subtle aesthetic — although it also relies on various colors of jade.

“愛德華·邱珠寶藝術”喜愛引人注目，高端時尚的風格;然而自學成才、自20世紀70年代便開始設計玉石首飾的香港設計師羅啟妍則青睞更加微妙的美學，她喜歡充分利用玉石的不同顏色。

“I have been using red, lavender, white and yellow jadeite in my design because classic green is too traditional,” she said.

“我用過紅色、淡紫色、白色和黃色硬玉，因為經典的翡翠綠過于傳統(tǒng)了，”她說。

Using a combination of nephrite sourced in China by antique dealers and jadeite from Hong Kong wholesalers, Ms. Lo connects jade pieces with silk cords, sometimes adding small whimsical details such as a coral ring or a horn fastener to an otherwise elegant assemblage.

羅啟妍使用從中國大陸古董商處買來的軟玉和香港經銷商處買來的硬玉，用絲繩把玉片串起來，有時還加上一些聰明的小細節(jié)，比如一只珊瑚指環(huán)或角質物品，最終成為一件優(yōu)雅的組合。

The stone

石材

The design of jade jewelry also is influenced by the shape, texture and characteristic of the stone.

玉石首飾設計要受玉石本身形狀、質材和特點的影響。

Mr. Hui noted: “It’s not like diamond jewelry where you can create a design and source various shapes and sizes of diamonds. Jadeite is always the origin of the design itself.”

許先生說：“設計鉆石珠寶的時候，同樣的設計可以用在不同形狀、不同大小的鉆石上面。硬玉首飾通常要根據玉石本身量身定制。”

A nephew of Mr. Chiu, who died two years ago, Mr. Hui comes from a family of jadeite specialists who travel to Myanmar regularly to obtain stones. “Because we are experts, we already have our idea of what we want to make and what the quality of the jadeite before we even harvest it from the boulder,” he said.

許先生是邱先生的外甥，邱先生于兩年前去世，家族中都是玉石專家，經常到緬甸去購買玉石。“因為我們都是行家，所以玉石剛一從石頭里開采出來，我們就能判斷它的質量如何，知道該用它來制做什么。”

And sometimes a designer has to be patient.

有時候設計師必須非常耐心。

Michelle Ong, the owner and designer of the Hong Kong jewelry brand Carnet, said it took her several years to collect jade in the right size and shape for a floral-design brooch and a necklace of diamonds and gourd-shaped yellow jadeite.

香港珠寶品牌Carnet的所有者兼設計師米歇爾·翁(Michelle Ong)說，為了設計一枚花朵形狀的胸針，以及一條綴著葫蘆形狀黃色硬玉的鉆石項鏈，她花費幾年時間收集形狀大小合適的玉石。

“Jadeite is always going to be the chosen gemstone for Asians because of our heritage,” she said. “And the fact that we need to take our time and find the right stone first — you can’t rush it.”

“因為文化傳承的緣故，硬玉一直都是亞洲人最愛的珠寶，”她說，“首先，我們必需花費時間，精心選擇合適的玉石——這是急不得的。”