A Chinese jewellery brand dreams big with a store in Paris’ Place Vendome but its founder tells Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan that the rich symbolism and modern versatility make it unique.
DENNIS Chan is quite the Renaissance man. An industrial designer by training and a musician at heart, Chan founded a jewellery brand 15 years ago called Qeelin, to bring the best of China to the world.
Many think Chinese symbolism and images are archaic and dated and he wants to tell the opposite story through his pieces.
But way before his brand came to fruition, Chan was a gem in his own right. He started his career in London, where he designed helmets for fighter jet pilots.
Chan returned to Hong Kong and, in 1989, started his own company called Longford, where he designed, among others, a wristwatch as the Hong Kong government’s official souvenir for VIPs at the Hong Kong Handover Ceremony in 1997.
His designs have been exhibited at the Louvre in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Chan’s foray into jewellery, therefore, has nothing to do with fashion but everything to do with passion, especially his Chinese heritage.
“I just want to make jewellery inspired by Chinese culture and images that are modern and versatile that everyone can wear,” he says.
And it is his industrial design background that makes him look at jewellery differently. Not satisfied with just static objects, Chan made Qeelin’s Bo Bo collection, a line of panda studded with diamonds and other stones doing different things and wearing different outfits, an icon by adding a mechanism so their legs can move.
The snowboarding panda, for example, with mother-of-pearl snowboard under its feet, can move its legs. It’s adorable and amazing at the same time because we are used to seeing two-dimensional pendants.
At a lunch held in conjunction with the brand’s 15th anniversary at the Four Seasons Hotel Kuala Lumpur, some of these pandas were on display, including a kung fu panda that does not share the big tummy of the animated character Po in the Kung Fu Panda movie.
Some pandas can move all four legs, while others can only move their rear legs, depending on the size and intricacies of the design. These design skills come at a price, with some Bo Bo pieces costing as much as RM213,600 each.
The latest one is hip Bo Bo, which makes a peace sign with its fingers as Chan likes to rap, and many say it is a miniature version of him.
He understands that his jewellery is not as serious-looking as those produced by the big players but he is unfazed.
“I produce something that makes me happy and that I would wear. You cannot please anyone, even if you try, so I do things to make myself happy,” he says.
BIG BREAK
Qeelin jewellery made global headlines when actress Maggie Cheung wore the Wulu collection while receiving the Gold Palm Award for Best Actress at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
There’s also another iconic image of her and the necklace in black and white, with Cheung in undergarments and jeans.
“That wasn’t planned at all,” Chan says. “Maggie was at a Diesel shoot and she just said, can we shoot it like this, to which the photographer complied and that photo was born. Sometimes, great things happen when you least plan it,” he says.
Chan did not first open a boutique in Hong Kong, but thousands of kilometres away in Paris in 2004 as a testament of how versatile and global the pieces are. Qeelin’s first store was in Palais-Royal, just steps away from the Louvre.
It was followed with another outpost in Galleries Lafayette and this year, the brand, which, since 2013, has been under Kering Group (the same parent company as Gucci, Yves Saint-Laurent and Balenciaga) made history by becoming the first Chinese jewellery brand with a store in Place Vandome, home of European jewellery brands from Cartier to van Cleef and Arpels.
While Chan’s jewellery is precious, they are extremely wearable and won’t weigh you down with the weight and the bling. Chan wore a long chain with a huge Wulu pendant for the event, but the piece did not look out of place on a man.
“Everyone can wear Qeelin, that’s the beauty of it. The ancient Chinese symbolism can be crafted into modern jewellery that resonate with the current generation,” he says.
HAPPY ANIMAL
Chan counts superstars Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung and Carina Lau as friends and they collect his art pieces. In 2014, he launched a set of sculpture called Haha Panda. As the name suggests, it’s a sculpture of the animal in colours and demeanour that reflect happiness.
Born out of his personal interest in ancient Chinese civilisation and his reflective acumen in the clash of old and new for the young Chinese generation, Haha Panda becomes a playful yet insightful artistic platform built to facilitate the discussion on contemporary Chinese culture and values from a global perspective.
The colourful sculpture represents happiness and harmony, expressed through the amiable nature of the panda, a Chinese icon in itself.
I ask him if any of his sculptures are in the boutique and he says no. “This is Dennis Chan. That is Qeelin. I like them to be different from one another. Haha Panda is not a gigantic version of the Bo Bo. Both are different and I like to maintain them that way.”
His latest hobby is rap and hip-hop music. The freedom in hip-hop is visually expressed through his sartorial style and the playful styling of his fine jewellery on men and women.
Chan composes and produces music for fun but fans are waiting for yet another breakthrough when he brings his musical insights into his jewellery designs.
His staff tells me that he is very hands-on both in design and management and he agrees. Everything, from design to Press materials, go through Chan and it is normal for him to be up in the wee hours of the morning to look through books and leaflets.
“When you love what you do, they don’t feel like work,” he says.
Old symbol, new lens
Qeelin was named after qilin, an auspicious mystical creature in Chinese culture. Qi refers to the male animal, and lin the female. Legend has it that qilins are tame and kind, and they are described as benevolent beasts.
Qeelin’s name is the embodiment of balance and harmony, while its collections celebrate the brand’s roots through a contemporary lens.
Wulu, Qeelin’s iconic collection, interprets the mythical powers of the hulu, a Chinese gourd, as a stylish symbol of positivity and hope. The Wulu is traditionally associated with health and success, while its eight shape invites wealth.
Skilfully designed by Chan, Wulu’s elegantly simple and smooth harmonious lines inlaid with shimmering diamonds elevate the collection to Qeelin’s philosophy. The theme of balance and harmony runs through all of Qeelin’s collections.
With its ongoing search for the elusive meeting point between ancient oriental wisdom and the rhythm of modern life, Qeelin bridges traditional and contemporary elements with substance and demotional sensitivity.
For panda
Since last year, Qeelin has been collaborating with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in the initiative to improve Qinling pandas’ natural habitat, with a vision to restore and preserve their damaged natural home — the bamboo forest.
Today, almost half of the natural habitat for wild pandas is not within conservation zones, causing severe damage to their living environment. Through the partnership with WWF, Qeelin hopes to artificially restore the bamboo forests to improve the animal’s habitat and establish better frameworks for their management and protection.