Geological genesis · 40 million years
The nephrite in this cuff underwent its primary geological transformation approximately 40 million years ago, in what is now British Columbia. Jade tolerates thermal expansion: it must be carved to a tolerance that allows for seasonal movement, otherwise winter cold will crack the band. Every measurement in this piece accounts for the stone's thermal behaviour across a temperature range of minus 20 to 40 degrees Celsius. The bronze comes from a copper-tin alloy cast and fabricated this year. Between them: forty million years.
British Columbia, Canada
02 · Composed
Jade Cuff — Open Form
Artisan intervention · 55 hours
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Cultural fragment
"The bronze will go dark. The jade will go bright. In twenty years, no one who looks at them together will believe they were made at the same time."
— Lục San, on opposing patinas
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How it ages
The bronze will develop a patina within two to three years of regular wear — first gold, then brown, then a deep chestnut that is the colour of oxidised copper near old wood. The jade brightens with skin contact: lanolin from the wrist gradually enriches its translucency. To separate them after twenty years would be geological violence. They are being made, slowly, into something that neither material was before.
Materials present
Nephrite jade · Bronze
Object services
Structural integrity restored to original specification.
Form adapted to a new body, a new life.
The object reclaimed, its materials given another purpose.
Every object made in this studio carries a lifetime service commitment. The relationship does not end at the point of acquisition.