The Zodiac animals of the Chinese lunar calendar are best portraits of simple rural life in harmony with nature of the “East”. This Zodiac Jewelry Project
will have many “firsts” made possible by advances in Technology from the “West”:
- Conspicuously Inconspicuous whilst Inconspicuously Conspicuous.
- Global Village of Designers Collective.
- Contributing to Wildlife Conservation.
The East Meeting the West
This Zodiac Jewelry Project is a special tribute in honor of Master Nguyen Tu Nghiem (Born 1922) who passed away on June 15, 2016 at the ripe old age of 94. The designs by a select group of international artist-designers are "inspired" by gouache Zodiac paintings of Master Nghiem who was hailed as one of the four "masters of Vietnamese modern art".
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Considered a national treasure, Nghiem was one of the last graduates of École des
beaux-arts du Viêt Nam (formerly known as École Supérieure des Beaux Arts de l’Indochine) in 1945. He began experimenting and mastering painting with lacquer, employing a simple style, harking back to the old greats of his culture.
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Art, Fashion & Technology
The possibilities of creation are endless with advances in 3D technology rendering artist-designers breathless in trying to keep up. Zodiac Jewelry is making a statement of the owner’s “desire-to-be-different”, combining modernity with classics, and love of nature, turning art into fashion.
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Each designer has created a custom Zodiac jewelry design made up of rings, earrings, pendants, bracelets or accessories, and are produce
primarily by 3D-printing made in brass-gold to titanium with some products handcrafted using materials from gold lace threading to fine filigree silver wiring.
The Zodiac Jewelry of limited edition with a maximum 100 pieces produce for each design of which up to 50 are exclusively offered in this crowdfunding
initiative before being offered in other planned marketing campaigns of
aoku3D. Special price perks and free delivery worldwide are part of the
crowdfunding incentives.
Designer Collective: Democratization of Creation
At
its heart, Zodiac Jewelry is a “Designer Collective”, bringing together a small
group of artist-designers from four corners of Mother Earth free to create and
innovate, rendering “Global Village” a reality.
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Dr. Lionel T. Dean from the UK is a pioneer in "computational design" having moved away from inventing industrial applications to art and consumer creations using 3D Printing.
Marta Cherednik from Australia is an industrial experimental designer that takes inspirations from science and nature and combines new technologies like 3D printing to produce lighting fixtures, furniture, homewares, fashion accessories and jewelry design objects.
Desmond Chan of Hong Kong took up jewelry making as a hobby as he was unable to find suitable gifts for his wife he decided to try his hand at making unique jewelry using 3D printing.
Ting Tang is the lead designer-founder of Elements Lab in Taiwan, a bespoke jewelry maker that can transform customer designs into high-quality precious metal jewelry pieces with the use of 3D printing.
Tina Koder of Slovenia is a rare innovator who adheres to using traditional 300-year Idrija lace-making techniques to create exceptional jewelry, fashion accessories, home decorations and gift items using the finest of quality materials.
Biljana Klekackoska of Macedonia is a jewelry designer that adopts delicate Filigree jewelry metalwork whose origin may be traced back to Mesopotamia since 3,000 BC to create artistic motifs by mixing new techniques and materials.
Chinese Zodiac & Astrology
By
observing the rule of changes between sky and earth and the four seasons,
ancient Chinese people created the calendar system as early as 2,700 BC,
recording heavenly changes in 60-year cycles made up of ten heavenly stems and
twelve earthly branches; thus came the system of counting time which has been
passed down through thousands of years.
It
may be coincidental that western astrology created by ancient Greek from
Babylonian astronomy (circa mid-1st millennium BC) divides a year into 12
periods; and everyone has a corresponding zodiacal sign according to the period their birthday lies.
The
Chinese Zodiac is based on the twelve earthly branches with each year
corresponding to an animal sign: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse,
sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. It is believed that the years represented
by the Zodiac animals affect the character and personality of the person born
in that year in the same way like the western astrology signs.
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It
is further believed some signs are perfect matches while some are less
compatible or even outright born opponents.
Best
matches of the 12 signs:
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4 Trines & Associated Personal Characters
According to the soothsaying Chinese Zodiac “Ben Ming Nian”, peoples in their own Zodiac Year of Birth
may offend the God of Age “Taisui” that may lead to misfortunes and hardships. Some effective ways to diminish the misfortunes include wearing of jewelry accessories of their Zodiac Year of Birth.
1st Trine - Rat, Dragon, Monkey: great leaders, unpredictable, artistic, aggressive.
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Rats: 1996 Dragon: 1976 Monkeys: 2004
2nd Trine – Ox, Snake, Rooster: endurance, meticulous, loyal, judgmental.
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Snakes: 2001 Cows: 1999 Rooster: 1969
3rd Trine – Tiger, Horse, Dog: love, idealistic, independent, rash, stubborn.
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Tiger: 1974 Horses: 2002 Dogs: 2006
4th Trine – Rabbit, Goat, Pig: calm, intellectual, compassionate, caring, pedantic.
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Cats: 1999* Goats: 2003 Pig: 1995
*Master Nghiem painted cats instead of rabbits as he had never seen rabbits.
It is believed that the years represented by the Zodiac animals affect
the character and personality of the person born in that year in the
same way like the western astrology signs have a bearing on a person’s
life.