Chloe Ching Yee Wan, the creative mind behind Kaleidoforest, believes that flowers are gifts from nature. She takes those gifts and uses them to create truly exquisite pieces of jewellery, which is a way to further appreciate and express that gift. By taking a quick look over her SAC selection, you’ll see that she utilizes flowers of many different colours and sizes, and transforms them into eye catching accessories that are just as suitable for a casual day as they are for a special night out on the town. Chloe’s creative process and her inspiration are fascinating aspects of her craft, and will lead to a deeper appreciation of her artwork.
Interpreting the Beauty of Nature
“Just like humans, flowers are unique and one of a kind,” says Chloe. “You can’t find them looking completely the same.” Flowers are such a beautiful part of nature that you can’t help but think of them as a gift. As Chloe sees it, each flower has its own language, and they can both speak to you and speak for you. In drying the flowers and then creating jewellery out of them, Chloe is giving people the ability to take the blessings of the flowers – the blessings of the universe – with them every day to boost all the positive energy contained in their soul and their heart.
The Creative Process
Chloe launched Kaleidoforest in 2016, and each and every one of her products is handmade with painstaking care. She has always been passionate about creating jewellery and used to do it for her own enjoyment, but she fell in love with making floral pieces. Most of the flowers she uses in her craft actually come from the Sydney Flower Market because their supply is fresh and has a great deal of variety. She dyes the flowers into different colours and then dries them, a process which involves drying sand, a substance that best maintains the form and vibrancy of the inflorescences.
Once the drying process is complete, Chloe coats the flower in UV resin and then places it under a UV light. This step needs to be repeated until the resin’s surface is hard enough to be made into various pieces of jewellery. Finally, she mixes and matches the flowers with different things in order to see whether they are best suited to becoming bracelets, hairpins, necklaces, or something else.
Creating patterns with the finished resin pieces is Chloe’s favorite part of the entire process. It’s a time consuming task to arrange the tiny plants and petals, but also a cathartic, pleasurable one. She loves to share her designs with other people and see their reaction to her jewellery. She’s a huge supporter of handmade markets so she joined some prior to SAC, including the Olive Tree Market, The Sacred Tree Market, and Bondi Beach Market.
Wear Your Love of Nature
Kaleidoforest’s designs are perfect for anyone who delights in nature’s little wonders. Whether it’s the bright, bold colours of the flowers or the delicate shape of the petals, the jewellery made by Chloe is sure to bring happiness to whoever wears it.
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