Unmarried mother, selling a house to start a business, and auctioning at a loss. Today, her works are worth nearly 10 million

Legend | Unmarried mother, selling a house, starting a business, and auctioning at a loss. Today, her works are worth nearly ten million. Only those whose lives are smeared into works are worthy of the title of artist.

——Yuyan sister

at the upcoming Maastricht European Art Fair (TEFAF), Chinese designer 赵心綺 (Cindy Zhao) will exhibit her latest gem brooch designed and produced ——" chaotic flowers gradually green " (the original name is Greenovia, the Chinese name of is given by sister Yuyan).

▲The “Squashing Green” brooch is framed by titanium, platinum and silver, inlaid with 105 carats of golden emeralds, opals, diamonds, and 2500 pieces of 6 different gems

as a top art jewelry designer, Zhao Xinqi must first draw the artwork, and then carve the wax mold base by herself. The craftsman makes the metal frame based on the wax carving, and finally inlays the gems cut on demand. The process is repeated for several years.

▲ TEFAF is the world's largest scale The most influential art fair featuring master works and antiques. Every year, more than 10 billion US dollars of works are sold here. The picture shows the Chinese jewelry master Zhao Xinqi

Zhao Xinqi once said that emeralds are her favorite gems .

Before Yuyan sister launches today's article, let's first experience Zhao Xinqi's green jewelry .

▲Side flying green butterfly brooch

▲Emerald feather brooch

▲Stacked wings green butterfly brooch earrings, this pair of earrings was once lent to the cuckoo to wear the emerald ring of emerald

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▲Emerald City Ring. Inlaid cushion cut, 44 carat Colombian emeralds

▲ emerald dragonfly brooch

▲ emerald bud brooch. Pulling apart the diamond buds reveal a string of emerald-green drop-shaped beads

is very beautiful. Sister Yuyan was obsessed with her writing when she wrote, and she was amazed by the designer's whimsy.

Zhao Xinqi 's life experience can be described as peculiar.

chose to become a young single mother when she was 25 years old. When she was most struggling, she had only NT$25,000 (5000 RMB ) in her account.

However, only three years after she started her business, her work was listed at the Christie's auction in New York and sold at three times the reserve price .

▲Zhao Xinqi's work, the royal butterfly brooch is collected by the American History Museum

, ​​and Zhao Xinqi, whose works are collected by the American History Museum , is a veritable world's top jewelry artist . Her output is extremely low, and she can only complete 36 works in one year.

Wendi Deng, Ivanka, and Queen of Jordan are all her clients. Behind every hand-made orphan product of

, ​​a large number of collectors are looking forward to it and waiting hard.

And now, the distance from the creation of the Cindy Chaos jewelry brand is only 15 years and .

like thisHow did the miracle happen?

▲30-40% of Zhao Xinqi’s clients are male professional collectors, they don’t wear them, don’t give them away, they just collect them to be appreciated

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Zhao Xinqi was born in Tainan in 1974, a family of folk art family .

Her grandfather is the famous temple architect , and her father is the sculptor who makes Buddha statues and buckets.

Ever since she was young, Zhao Xinqi has been fascinated by her grandfather's drawings of a table and a model of her father's house.

▲ Zhao Xinqi is a very strong girl who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside. She called herself "a thousand points dedicated, one thousand points focused, super-controlling, and no change allowed"

Zhao Xinqi's father is a person who is immersed in her own world.

He is quiet, afraid of noisy, always creating silently, and rarely talks to children.

When Zhao Xinqi was at home, her father always stuffed her with a piece of clay and asked her to squeeze a small flower and grass to entertain herself, for fear of her daughter disturbing herself.

"Unknowingly , I became the apprentice to follow my father for the longest time. " Zhao Xinqi said.

▲Most designers will make wax molds by specialized craftsmen after drawing the sketches. But Zhao Xinqi always makes wax models by herself. Carve a whole piece of green wax into a model as thin as a cicada's wing, and redo it if you feel dissatisfied, repeating it dozens or even hundreds of times. After seeing that European artisans wax Zhao Xin Qi surprised and said: "You have done better than I wax"

▲ butterfly bracelet

▲ autumn maple leaf earrings

▲ bracelet

▲ ruby ​​butterfly earrings

▲Emerald vine earrings

In the first grade of elementary school, Zhao Xinqi has already started as the assistant of 's father , learning to make intensive Buddha statues in the temple of Fo Guang Shan.

Every time she finishes an order, her father pays her 5 yuan and .

Later, my father recalled that the Buddha statue built by the 7-year-old daughter of had reached the level of adult apprentices .

" We don't have much communication in life. The only way to get my father to talk is to talk to him about creation. " Zhao Xinqi said.

▲ Zhao Xinqi, born in 1973, has just turned 46 years old and is at the peak of his artistic creativity. She said: "There is no two way to succeed, it is hard work, persistence, and focus."

It was not until she became famous that Zhao Xinqi noticed the mark her grandfather and father left on her.

Zhao Xinqi's design breaks the traditional flat mosaic, and is famous for its 360-degree seamless three-dimensional effect.

"My father said that the best art of is the three-dimensional art . Whenever I see something, I will rotate it in my mind and consider the 360-degree structure." Zhao Xinqi said.

For most people, the cognition of art starts from the two-dimensional creation of smearing on white paper.

is more like Sister Yuyan, who has not established a three-dimensional thinking until now. It is difficult to learn three-dimensional geometry.

But Zhao Xinqi is different. From the beginning, she was exposed to the three-dimensional art .

▲Zhao Xinqi advises customers: "The more fancy, the bigger the jewelry,Instead, wear simple clothes during the day. "This reminded Sister Yuyan of Yishu's words: "Wearing a white shirt, jeans, a ponytail, but wearing a pair of Pusirati's large sapphire earrings in white gold with diamonds, how qualified. "

Zhao Xinqi has never regarded herself as a craftsman serving gemstones, but , a sculptor and architect who uses gemstones as materials, .

"Grandpa chooses reinforced cement, and father chooses wood carving clay sculptures. I choose metal gemstones, no matter what the material is. At the same time, everything we do is essentially the same. " Zhao Xinqi said. The high-dimensional perspective of

, the skill of boy skills, breaking the ceiling is completely natural to her.

▲Interestingly, as a jewelry designer, Zhao Xinqi is not a jewelry designer. She doesn’t wear jewelry either. A white shirt, black trousers, and a wide belt are her eternal outfits. Zhao Xinqi said: “Jewelry needs to have value beyond design, so she chooses large expensive gems. She only regards gems as materials. There is no special fanatical pursuit." After graduating from high school, Zhao Xinqi went to study in the United States.

first studied in business school, and then transferred to the New York School of Design to study jewelry design at the suggestion of her mother and obtained a jewelry appraisal license. After graduation from university,

Zhao Xinqi, who is already engaged, finds that she is not suitable for her partner. Worse, she is considering breaking up and she is pregnant.

originally wanted to get married, but the mother who is also a single mother reminded Zhao Xinqi: " and the future Long pain is better than short pain now. "

and encouraged her to have children to raise independently. Zhao Xinqi, who gave birth to her son

, ​​first worked in a Jewish wholesale diamond company.

2 years later, holding ", I will design instead of wholesale " Zhao Xinqi, who returned to Tainan, founded her own studio with the support of her mother. At that time, she was 30 years old and .

said it was a studio, but it was actually in the living room of , . The staff except Zhao Xinqi herself, There are only two sisters: sister and assistant .

▲Sister Yu Yan thinks that it is the genes in the blood that made Zhao Xinqi embark on the path of designer

Zhao Xin found that the jewelry of the elders was in good condition, but the craftsmanship at the bottom was not suitable. .

So she decided to start the business from renovation . The first "order" of

was the 5 carat ruby ​​ of her mother.

Because Zhao Xinqi has no storefront and can't get the trust of ladies, she can only Starting from a small business of with a fee of million. After the

word of mouth opened, customers brought one by one.

ladies value the uniqueness of Zhao Xinqi’s design.

The 26-carat diamond bracelet at Zhang Qingfang’s wedding, Chen Zhizhong’s wedding The colored diamond earrings worn by Chen Xingyu, the European retro diamond ring worn by Alyssa Chia for her daughter Wutongmei when she wore a double full moon wine, and the white diamond retro ruby ​​ring worn by Tao Zi when she got married were all made by Zhao Xinqi.

▲ Zhang Qingfang was the first to appreciate Zhao Xinqi Bole. Zhao Xinqi once asked her: "You have the ability to buy brand-name jewelry, why choose me? "Zhang Qingfang replied: "I want to give you a hand"

However, it is not Zhao Xinqi's true ideal to make jewelry re-setting for customers.

"I really don't like customers telling me that I want to inlay this way or that way. Everyone generally believes that large gemstones and good color are the most important, and design is just icing on the cake. "

Zhao Xinqi said: " good gems need good design to increase its value . When

was 30 years old, when Zhao Xinqi passed by Paris Grand Palais Museum , she said with emotion to her assistant: "If has a lifetime, my works can be exhibited here, it would be dead and no regrets . "

The Grand Palais in Paris is all on displayHanded down works of art created by Cartier, Chanel, Van Cleef & Arpels .

In the eyes of others, Zhao Xinqi's words are like dreams.

" She is the kind of dream big, she first put forward a very high ideal, and then make a plan, how to walk step by step. Even if only one thousandth of the end, she will use her best. " Zhao Xinqi Said his assistant.

For this unattainable ideal, the strong and tenacious Zhao Xinqi cruelly sent her 9-year-old son to boarding school in Europe.

"I realize that I can't work with peace of mind, and my children can't get the care they deserve." Zhao Xinqi paused, "I still think that at the time, this is a good way for both of us. I don't do that. There is no today."

▲Zhao Xinqi said that after sending her children to the dormitory, she left in a hurry, went outside and found that she had forgotten to take the bag, so she had to bite the bullet and return to the house. When the child saw the mother returning, his eyes lit up: "Mom, are you taking me home?"

After paying the expensive tuition, Zhao Xinqi's bank account only left 25,000 Taiwan dollars (5000 RMB ).

She began to work day and night, sleeplessly.

was afraid of being interrupted. Zhao Xinqi didn't drink water, eat, or go to the toilet when she was working. She didn't take a few fast foods on the workbench until she was too hungry.

She even abandoned all the business of refurbishing old jewellery and devoted herself to the creativity she wanted. For this reason,

also angered the assistant and resigned.

" here is all of my life. " she said, pointing to the workbench full of drafts and wax models.

Zhao Xinqi, who just started her business, is not going well.

originally had a huge investment in jewelry craftsmanship, but she is a non-premium gem without .

In order to raise funds to purchase raw materials, Zhao Xinqi broke the boat, and sold the real estate and car left by her mother .

The result is that Zhao Xinqi's works are not cared about because of the high cost.

▲ 2400 diamonds with a total weight of 310 carats create a fan with vines

▲ emerald bracelet

▲ ruby ​​bow brooch

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was always silent. His father took his daughter’s hand and said:

"I don’t know what kind of difficulties you are experiencing now. I am not an entrepreneur and cannot give you some business advice, but I can tell you that you are in art The achievements on the above have greatly surpassed me. No matter what difficulties you encounter today or what problems you have tomorrow, I want you to always remember that I am proud of you . "

" The words of father make up for all the previous I didn't get (love) from him. " Zhao Xinqi said.

▲Three months after Ivanka wore the orchid earrings

designed by Zhao Xinqi, Zhao Xinqi's father passed away, and her business has not improved.

In 2008, Zhao Xinqi, whose funds were broken and her thoughts were disheartened, had already planned to close the studio. At this moment, advertising godmother Yu Xiang became interested in a ruby ​​side flying butterfly brooch designed by her.

▲Two huge irregular-cut Burmese unburnt rubies are surrounded by diamonds of various colors. Facing the closing of her studio, Zhao Xinqi put all her energy on the ruby ​​side flying butterfly brooch, completely disregarding market considerations, she just wanted to make the art in her heart

, ​​but Yu Xiang, who made the verbal purchase promise , evaporated. Zhao XinQi's assistant made many calls and no one answered.

disappointed Zhao Xinqi said to her assistant: "Forget it, I hate hard sell the most, she should be hiding from me."

▲Zhao Xinqi and Yu Xiang, a pair of friends who have lived through difficult years

3 months later , Yu Xiang appeared in Zhao Xinqi's studio with difficulty.

had a bald head wrapped in a silk scarf, half of his cheek was numb, and he could only speak a single word.

It turned out that Yu Xiang fell into a coma due to a brain tumor ruptured and . He underwent three major operations within 18 days and spent three months in the intensive care unit.

Zhao Xinqi asked her sadly: "Why bother to come to the door when you have recovered from a serious illness. After all, a piece of jewelry is not important at this time."

Yu Xiang replied: " is very important to you because of this. "

Zhao Xinqi still cannot forget this friendship.

▲As Zhao Xinqi rises to fame, the price of the ruby ​​side-flying butterfly brooch must have doubled. Sister Yu Xiang is also a good person and has a good return

For this gift, Zhao Xinqi later took over Yu Xiang’s family ruby Set of chain refurbished .

Who would have thought that this hanging stone had been put in the hands of Zhao Xinqi, who worked slowly and carefully for 10 years, and it was a blockbuster after completion.

In the past 10 years, Zhao Xinqi tried various schemes, made dismantling, dismantling and making, and wax molds were repeatedly carved more than 30 times before completing this masterpiece-, the rich and rich ruby ​​peony brooch .

10 years of friendship turned into peonies in full bloom.

Someone once asked Zhao Xinqi to make a copy, "but I can't do it anymore," she said.

"If you consider business considerations, I am the worst businessman."

▲The ruby ​​peony brooch won the annual London Masterpiece Exhibition Award, one of the 6 awards among nearly 10,000 exhibits. This brooch has 220 carats of rubies of different tones, 30 egg emeralds of different sizes, and lacquered flower stamens. Reminiscent of the famous sentence in "The Story of the West Chamber": "Spring is the world's most beautiful flowers, the flowers are lightly dismantled, and the dew drops the peony"

God let her see a ray of light, the door finally opened

is almost the ruby ​​side that Yu Xiang bought Zhao Xin While flying butterflies, Zhao Xinqi ushered in a major turning point in her fate.

With her first series of works " Four Seasons ", she knocked on the door of the office of the chairman of the Christie's auction house in New York .

Looking at the 6 works brought by Zhao Xinqi, Christie’s immediately decided to cooperate with this little-known Chinese woman. As a glamorous old glutton, the auctioneer said to Zhao Xinqi: “You will be somebody. Diamond collar and bracelet. Zhao Xinqi has been producing these works for two years. She said to herself: "At that time, the mood was extremely gloomy, and the jewelry made was also black and white."

However, Zhao Xinqi was happy for less than a moment, and the other party's offer made her cold water.

"Even the cost can't be equalized at all." Zhao Xinqi said.

Despite this, she still handed over the work to Christie's, the only requirement was that type her name .

In the end, Zhao Xinqi's 6 works were sold at at three times the reserve price.

She also became 's first Taiwanese jewelry designer to be listed on Christie's auction house.

"When I first started my business, I had a small child and a single parent. I was under a lot of pressure and tried my best to succeed. After the auction of , I never cried again." Zhao Xinqi said.

Five years later, in 2012, Zhao Xinqi's work " Rebirth Butterfly " was sold at Christie’s for the sky-high price of 900,000 Swiss francs (6 million RMB) and , which was five times higher than the valuation.. The

auctioneer happened to be the one who first discovered Zhao Xinqi.

He said: " I know you will succeed. "

Zhao Xinqi defines her design as: architecture, sculpture, organic .

She uses extremely hard titanium to create an elegant and soft texture, and uses layers of gemstones to inlay complex and overlapping mechanisms.

Women who have worn brooches know that if the is too heavy, the brooch will turn over and fall on the chest .

In order to reduce the weight of the works, all of Zhao Xinqi's designs adopt perforation method .

Although titanium is strong and light, it has low ductility and high melting point, making it extremely difficult to forge. What's more, Zhao Xinqi, who strives for perfection at , has to repeatedly modify .

For this reason, European artisans repeatedly let go of their harsh words: "Never work with you again."

But every time Zhao Xinqi's work wins the award, the other party can't help asking when the next work will start.

Zhao Xinqi's work is inspired by natural flora and fauna . Among them, her favorite theme is the short but brilliant butterfly of 's life, .

Since 2008, Zhao Xinqi will make a butterfly brooch every year to commemorate her growth and transformation over the year .

When Zhao Xinqi learned that her eyes had deteriorated to the point of a 70-year-old man because of long-term close focusing, she said: “ has to make the best use of it even if there is only a little vision left. The body will disappear over time. Art can be passed down forever, so we use our works to prove that we once existed. "

▲The butterfly brooch made by Zhao Xinqi

In 2010, Zhao Xinqi made the ruby ​​rose butterfly brooch .

▲The 9-carat egg-surface ruby ​​combined with colored diamonds, the elegant lines make the four wings of the butterfly bloom like a rose

In 2012, Zhao Xinqi produced the rebirth butterfly .

▲With a white diamond as the main stone, it is inlaid in the center of the butterfly. Thousands of diamonds, sapphires, and purple corundum are perfectly inlaid with this butterfly brooch in 360 degrees. It took one and a half years to complete the Christie's magnificent jewellery auction held by

in Geneva. The Rebirth Butterfly was finally collected by international collectors at the price of RMB 6 million .

In 2015, Zhao Xinqi produced Red Treasure Butterfly .

▲The ruby ​​butterfly uses Burmese pigeon-free red rubies to create a pillow-shaped cut, which blends perfectly with high-clarity white diamonds cut in different shapes in 4 wings.

2013 work " ballet butterfly " is a spreading wings The tail of is like the slender legs of a ballerina .

This butterfly brooch got Jessica Parker as the platform, and sold a high price of 1.21 million at Sotheby's, and all the proceeds were donated to New York City Ballet .

▲The main stone of "Ballet Butterfly" is a pillow-shaped fancy brownish yellow diamond weighing 26 carats

. In the same year, Zhao Xinqi generously donated the " Royal Butterfly" brooch to the National Museum of American History, which was valued at 6 million RMB , this is also the only Chinese-designed jewelry that the museum has collected since the establishment of 164.

▲ "Royal Butterfly" was created by Zhao Xinqi in 2009 and made of 2,328 gems weighing 77 carats. 4 large uncut diamondsThe original embryo presents the pattern of butterfly wings, continuing the 360-degree comprehensive inlay process and three-dimensional lines. After precise calculations, combining engineering structures, and overcoming inlay difficulties, the manual period alone took 18 months. Zhao Xinqi said sincerely: “Of course I’m reluctant to donate it, but when I think that has 6 or 7 million visitors every year, I think it’s more meaningful than putting it in my own safe .” The

museum said: “We have a responsibility to collect future humans. Antiques in my eyes. The butterfly brooch of has far exceeded the definition of jewelry itself. It is a model of 21st century design and will affect the artistic creation of future generations ."

▲The imagination of each work is from the main stone Start. In 2006, Zhao Xinqi bought two pairs of original diamond embryos and began to imagine

▲Each gem set in the work must be fixed with four prongs, so it must be carefully arranged during the wax carving process. The positions of ten thousand prongs were sculpted on wax molds

▲To present the color of butterfly wings, the designer used more than 20 gradient tones to combine 2,318 white diamonds, colored diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and saffrons. The stone is perfectly matched to form this royal butterfly

butterfly, Zhao Xinqi also loves dragonfly shape .

She said: "The whole world is making dragonflies, but my dragonfly must be different. Its wings are blown up by the wind ." Can

dragonfly wings be blown by the wind? Of course not. But Zhao Xinqi's dragonfly is so beautiful and touching, is in the palm of his hand.

Yuyan sister feels that Zhao Xinqi’s design reflects the essence of Chinese painting-the spirit is like the shape but not .

▲In order to adjust the angle of turning, the dragonfly's wings were changed 100 times, and the whole body was changed 200 times.

▲Look at other dragonfly works, each one seems to be flying in the wind, with thousands of gestures

▲Sapphire Midnight Rose. Zhao Xinqi used 16 gradation and different colors of sapphires to enhance the three-dimensional effect of the work

In 2017, Zhao Xinqi's phoenix brooch was sold for 7.62 million yuan at the spring auction at Christie's in Hong Kong. The

brooch is inspired by , the golden age of France in the 19th century, ladies like to decorate with a feather on the hat.

▲ Zhao Xinqi selected 1,000 from more than 80,000 yellow diamonds with different shades of light and shades, which were set in the hollow titanium frame. This 18 cm long brooch weighs only 36g, which is equivalent to two macarons. Therefore, it is known as the world's lightest jewelry

▲Emerald is one of the precious stones with the softest texture. In order to make this feather brooch, Zhao Xinqi assumed more than 40% of the mosaic damage rate, and finally presented the world's first titanium art jewelry full of Colombian emeralds

▲This pair of maple leaf earrings lent to Li Bingbing to attend the Cannes Film Festival, the final The auction price was 1.1 million RMB

▲This goldfish was covered with 18 gradual sapphires

▲Timeless Sculpture, art jewelry watch series

▲2015 Met Gala The Metropolitan Museum charity dinner, Zhang Ziyi wearing Carolina Herrera white Cheongsam, embellished with several ruby ​​rose petal brooches, is considered the most elegant dress

as the world's top jewelry designer , but Zhao Xinqi himself does not prefer jewelry .

Only black and white shirts and trousers in her wardrobe, she doesn't have any luxury.

She said that 's own preference and passion is to create, but only uses valuable gems as the material.

Nowadays, Zhao Xinqi, who has achieved fame, is still working hard and striving for perfection.

Even though the work has been booked to 2022, , she still revises the design in her hands in a hurry.

Even if the experts say it is good, even if the customer says it is good, as long as it does not reach the golden line in his heart, Zhao Xinqi will not hand over.

To satisfy Zhao XinQi ", even the smallest diamonds must be bright and brilliant ", the studio had to send large diamonds with qualified colors to Belgium for cutting into small pieces, at the expense of the loss of the gem's own value. The huge cost of

annoys the financial director.

But Zhao Xinqi insisted: should do the best imaginable.

▲2018 ribbon series bracelet. The dense and intricate lines instantly solidify the soft and elegant feeling of the ribbon. The whole bracelet is very dynamic, and the folds are very vivid.

Yu Yan watched many interview videos of Zhao Xinqi. She speaks slowly, calmly and attentively, with a kind of obsession that can die after hearing the truth. The most admirable thing about

is that she has the detachment and self-consciousness of a artist .

For many years, Zhao Xinqi has willingly chosen a lonely life state to ensure that the greatest emotional tension is conveyed to the works .

she said: ", an artist, should learn to get along with oneself and talk to oneself most. Loneliness will erode one's heart, but only in a state of loneliness can the work of art creators reach the peak. That kind of coldness The loneliness will always exist. ”

Only in this way can people who are persistent, persevering, diligent, and desperate to smear all their lives into their works, who deserve the title of artist .

Some people may be a legend in their lives, but we don't know how much effort they have used to complete it.

More people's efforts can't even talk about destiny.

This is what Sister Yuyan wrote so many words this weekend and wanted to say.

The pictures in this article are all from the network

-END-

, ​​good news! The cinematic film "Don't Come and Get Nothing" directed by the famous director Jiang Xiaoyu is scheduled to start shooting in the near future. The director team decided to recruit the most beautiful girls in the country. The winner will be the main actor to participate in "Don't Come and Get Nothing" ". Follow the WeChat public account [Left and Right Convention Exhibition Competition Platform], click on the menu [Most Aesthetic Girl] to view the competition video.

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