Midnight Sun Collection Launching - June 2022
On the evening of 16th Jun. 2022, MIDNIGHT SUN, the new jewelry collection launching of Paloma Sanchez, The Art of Jewelry was held at the brand’s beautiful penthouse, which was kindly sponsored by Kaluga Queen Caviar. The Chinese filigree artist Du Jianyi (Master Du) was invited as a special guest. Diplomatic representatives of Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark, together with VIP customers attended this event.
MIDNIGHT SUN collection consists of eight pieces of jewelry featuring unique stones from ancient cultures of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, among which Paloma Sanchez collaborated on the design of two unique art pieces with Master Du proving through this collection, the strong similarities between Chinese and Northern European ancient civilizations.
Paloma Sanchez & Master Du from China
MIDNIGHT SUN collection
The audience was immersed in the wonderful vocal and piano works by Grieg, as well as great tunes by Puccini, Saint-Saens, Gershwin, which, together with the wonderful jewelry, depicted the beauty of the night.
From their miraculous extraction from the earth, the colorful beauty of gems has maintained a prominent and integral place in our lives. The entire region of Northern Europe is home to a variety of wondrous stones such as amethyst, carnelian (a reddish/orange agate), spectrolite (from Finland), aquamarine, and Swedish Beauty (Swedish Blue). Those stones played an indispensable role in their daily life, which were used for religious purpose, applied to medicine and regarded as amulets for warriors.
The Vikings were known as sword-swinging warriors, daring sea voyagers, and fearsome raiders, but they were also creative jewelry makers who had a talent for acquiring and working with minerals and gemstones. The Finnish Sami were also intricate designers and much of their craftsmanship, such as wood carving is considered an artistic treasure for all humanity.
Indigenous cultures developed around the unique resources in the land of beauty and mystery. The Vikings had their own writing system called The Runes. Those ancient, mystical alphabets were believed to hold power, symbolize inherent qualities and values and be associated with magic.
Finland also has its native good luck charm called Hannunvaakuna, which is typically regarded as a symbol of protection from evil for whoever holds it. More surprisingly, it bears a striking resemblance to the shape of Chinese knots.
Similarly, stones have always held a fascination for Chinese people. According to Shuowen Jiezi《說文解字》(discussing writing and explaining characters), an ancient Chinese dictionary from the Han dynasty in the early second century CE, jade was described as the beauty among all stones and was hallowed with lofty moral connotations such as bravery, benevolence, intelligence, righteousness and honor. With its warm luster and its delicate color, Hetian Yu (Hetian Jade) has become one of the most highly valued jades and is honored as “imperial jade” in China.