Chinese Phoenix coronet by Xinyi Chen

Head piece / Narrative OnBody ArtworksFeaturedbyKlimt02

When I first disassembled a recycled telephone, I was intrigued by an emerald-shaped capacitor, especially for texture, color, precision structure, digital spirituality, and hidden beauty. That’s why I began using e-waste as the gemstone to create jewellery.

The Chinese 'Phoenix coronet with designs of six dragons and three phoenixes' occupies a pivotal role in the history of Chinese jewellery. Its strong symbolic meaning emphasizes sociality over aesthetic value. I hope to mix the solemnity of the ritual with modern technology to create a new era of crowns. I discovered the parallel Dupont line in telephone as a new material to make the kingfisher feathers; I stabbed electronic components into discarded fruit package and sew them together into larger shapes.

Through creating an electronic material crown, I aim to achieve an unusual goal - a private world that evokes our memories of traditional fine jewellery while retaining its own identity as a separate world.

Xinyi Chen

Head piece
Chinese Phoenix coronet
2016
Recycled electronic components(LED, diode, capacitor, inductor, resistor, switch, DuPont line, wire), discarded fruit package, leather, fabric, polyethene
31 x 32 x 28 cm
Unique piece