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From gemstones to 10m giants: Wallace Chan's Vessels of Other Worlds spans Venice and Shanghai
Wallace Chan's exhibition 'Vessels of Other Worlds' exemplifies a brand strategy that transcends traditional categories of art and design, showcasing the importance of narrative and emotional connection in luxury branding. By blending diverse materials and philosophies, Chan creates a unique identity that appeals to ultra-high-net-worth individuals while challenging conventional perceptions of art and craftsmanship. This approach emphasizes the value of storytelling and the emotional resonance of art in enhancing brand perception.
Creative Boom: News Art & Culture From gemstones to 10m giants: Wallace Chan's Vessels of Other Worlds spans Venice and Shanghai More than the sum of its parts, this sprawling dual-site exhibition across Shanghai and Venice tackles time and scale with ambition and verve. Written By: Jon Everall 3 August 2026 Wallace Chan by Giacomo Cosua © 2025 The poet and painter William Blake proposed that we should be able, "To see a world in a grain of sand... and eternity in an hour." This ability to imagine, and even work with varied materials and sizes, from minute to massive, ideally encapsulates the focus, art and drive of Chinese artist Wallace Chan.
Born into poverty seventy years ago and emigrating to Hong Kong with his family, the craftsman began jewellery design in his mid-teens near the fire escape of his overcrowded family apartment. From these humble origins, Chan's motivation has propelled him to the highest levels of jewellery design, where he has created commissions for ultra-high-net-worth individuals valued at over $10m. While not an ostentatious man, even joining a Buddhist monastery in the 2000s, and clearly beloved by his immediate staff, he leads a large studio of some sixty artisan technicians.
Between them, and under his instruction, they have created Vessels of Other Worlds, an extraordinary presentation blending Eastern philosophy, advanced mechanics, garish and kitsch colourways, influences from Renaissance masters, and funfair rides. And that's not the half of it. The exhibition is vast, set within the sprawling spaces of the Long Museum West Bund, one of China's largest private galleries (33,000 sqm), founded by collectors and philanthropists Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei.
Wallace Chan 'Vessels of Other Worlds' photograph by Tian Fangfang © 2026 In fact, as the late American sculptor Richard Serra has suggested, he was "Interested in monumental scale because it forces the viewer to look at the world differently." Appropriately, walking through the exhibition design at the Long Museum, you are reminded of some of Serra's pieces and formed negative spaces, and of many of the Chan sculptures, whose paths lead to as many questions as they give answers. They certainly challenge you to see the world anew. They are also, in three cases, extremely large, towering up to 10m.
"Both extremes are difficult, but in very different ways. In a tiny gemstone, there is almost no room for error. One movement of the hand can change everything. The difficulty is concentration, precision and restraint," he explains. "At monumental scale, the difficulty is not only technical, but also spatial and human. A large work must relate to architecture, gravity, engineering, light, distance and the movement of viewers.
The smallest mistake can become very visible, but the smallest detail can also disappear if the whole rhythm is wrong." Wallace Chan 'Vessels of Other Worlds' photograph by Tian Fangfang © 2026 Creative Boom covered Wallace Chan's first exhibition in the UK in 2019. Despite his huge international appeal, to many in Britain he is considered a jeweller and engineer rather than a contemporary artist.
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The article discusses a significant exhibition that merges art and luxury branding, providing insights into narrative-driven brand strategies that are highly relevant to professionals in the brand strategy field.