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Award
winning designer of Platinum Guild International Design Competition.
Member of Jewelers Board of Trade. Member of Contemporary Design Group. Member of IJO Master Jewelers. Member of AGTA (American Gem Trade Association).
By far the most outstanding addition to the
gem world was premiered at JCK Las Vegas 2007. Chi Huynh of Galatea
(Jewelry by Artist), located in San Dimas, California, is best known
for his Diamond in a Pearl, in addition to his carved Akoya and
Tahitian pearls. This year, Chi introduced carved black pearls,
exposing the pearl's nucleus. The surprise is that the nucleus is
NOT Mother-of-Pearl. Several years ago, while Chi was carving a
Tahitian pearl, he accidentally carved too deeply, exposing the
white Mother-of-Pearl bead beneath the black nacre. Lamenting over
the fact that he had just ruined a perfectly fine Tahitian pearl, he
suddenly got this idea that he could insert gemstone beads into a
black lipped oyster, creating a pearl that would be carved down to
the nucleus, exposing the gem beneath the nacre. Undaunted by this turn of events, he took the black lipped oyster to waters off the shores of Vietnam. After persuading experts in implantation that his idea could actually work, he attempted to grow black pearls using citrine, amethyst, and turquoise bead nuclei. Three years later, Chi harvested beautiful AAA quality Tahitian-like (now Vietnamese) black pearls. While it was always his intent to carve these pearls down to expose the gemstone nucleus, he started to question his sanity of carving these beautiful pearls. But carve them he did, and the transformation is remarkable. Carved black pearl nacre over citrine, amethyst, and turquoise nuclei. Galatea has stunned the pearl world. |
My
father was a talented and widely respected jeweler. In the old days,
in my home country, it was considered a great privilege and honor to
apprentice with him. One was more than willing to tolerate the six
months or so spent cleaning the shop, polishing and making
jump-rings, only to "progress" to spending day after day making
simple wedding bands just to be asked to melt them down and start
over because they weren't round enough! The great mystery of why he
was so hard on us was finally revealed to me the day he said "If you
want to be a good jeweler it takes skill and repetition. To be a
'great jeweler' also requires patience, dedication, courage, and a
special love for your trade. Having these qualities makes you worthy
to work in my shop." Today at Galatea we have more than jewelers, we
have an Olympic team of jewelers all of whom share this philosophy
and love for our trade. We create each piece as if to be worn by our
own beloved.