Versatility is a valuable virtue in many occasions in life; for London-based jewellery designer James Ganh, it is at the heart of his design aesthetics.
Perhaps a signature piece of Ganh, Princess X highlights the designer’s fascination with transformable mechanical movements. The multi-gemstone tiara can be worn as a bangle and two sizes of tiara (for adult and children). There is a round catch lock between each centre white topaz and diamonds setting; gently squeeze the cross section and open upwards to release.
Inspired by the client’s love story where he met his wife on a flight to London, the jewellery tells the story of the crossing of fate. “Artistically, the most difficult part was truly capturing the essence of this romantic story: 'cross of fate'. Technically, the most challenging part was the trial period of making the structure and the movement to work in a secure way. We tried spring and rubber and eventually the catch lock is the most functional and durable solution,” said Ganh.
According to Ganh, it took his team a month to formulate the design concept and to test out different ways of stabilising the catch lock structure. Physical testing and engineering was carried out in their workshop in Guangdong. After series of trials and failures, a workable model is finally produced for further crafting and stone setting.
Positioning himself as a ‘jewel engineer’, Ganh aims to create stunning jewels with a fine balance of aesthetical creativity and mechanical beauty. “This automatically differentiates us from other designers whose works are based on certain motifs, materials or elements. A piece of fun and transformable jewellery is always captivating as it allows us to switch and fit into different occasions and moments in life,” said Ganh. Having completed his jewellery studies at Central Saint Martins and worked for Fabergé on design consulting for two years, Ganh entered into the jewellery business and set up his own jewellery workshop in Panyu in 2008.
During the last two years his team focused on providing bespoke jewellery for private clients and preparing for the launch of their commercial transformable jewellery. In 2017 they will launch their brand, expand their wholesale network by participating in trade shows in Europe and Hong Kong, and hopefully expand to the US market by 2018.
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