An ancient art form used to decorate everything from classic Byzantine religious objects to iconic Fabergé imperial eggs, enamelling has been revered throughout human history. Enamel has been used as a form of artistic expression for centuries, but it is with jewelry that enamel is perhaps most closely associated, whether it be the colorful Indian meenakari jewelry – painted with a technique that originated in Persia over 5,000 years ago, or floral jewelry in the style of Art Nouveau French master Rene Lalique.
As the art of jewelry takes on vibrant hues again, let’s dive a little deeper into the art of enamelling, in particular the different types of enamel—hot (vitreous) and cold (lacquer)—that are used today to give vibrant colors to jewelry, and the designers who pioneered in their use.
Hot enamel art
When you see the term “enamel” used in relation to jewelry, it’s most commonly referred to as hot enamel, an ancient decorative technique in which vitreous enamel is used to “touch up” areas of a piece of jewelry by fusing with metal and firing at very high temperatures. Also known as grand feu enamel, this technique dates back to the 13th century BC, when a collection of six rings adorned with vitreous layers of color welded onto gold was found in a Mycenaean tomb in Cyprus.
Because of its insidious nature, hot enamelling has long been considered an art. The process is time consuming and involves dry sifting very fine glass powder – combined with metal oxides that impart color – onto the surface or wet laying the enamel into channels in the metal. After application, the powder is heated until it softens and flows.
After cooling, it turns into a solid, glassy mass, and in order to achieve the depth of color and magical transparency characteristic of this technique, multiple applications and several firings in the furnace are required. It is a highly technical process requiring both a scientific understanding of the melting points in the kiln and a sensitivity to the material that is only acquired with practice, so it takes years of study and great skill to become a master.
The oven temperature can reach 750-850 degrees Celsius or more, the exact temperature depending on the color. For example, red is one of the most difficult colors to achieve due to its unpredictability when fired. Part art, part science, there are many factors that can lead to success or failure, including glass powder thickness, firing temperature, and length of stay in the kiln.
Vitreous enamel can be used to achieve an opaque finish like cold enamel (see below), as well as a translucent or transparent effect, and can be applied using a variety of artistic techniques. These include classic painted enamel; cloisonne enamel, which involves soldering thin metal strips to a metal surface to create a pattern and filling in the gaps with enamel; plique-a-jour, when the enamel is applied in cells without a backing, so that light shines through it; and guilloché, a particularly laborious method of applying translucent layers of enamel over a complex machine-engraved pattern.
Considered a pioneer in this art form, Peter Carl Faberge devoted much of his time to creating dazzling effects in enamel. By applying up to six layers of enamel and firing them at low temperatures, he was able to achieve a beautiful iridescent “oyster” finish that resembled the inside of an oyster shell, a technique that became his hallmark.
Today, the tradition of hot enamel is continued by a small number of artists, including a few jewelers who have chosen to specialize in this technique. One of them is Ilgiz Fazulzyanov, an award-winning vitreous enamel artist who works under the name Ilgiz F. One of the few craftsmen in the world who is a true master of the hot enamel technique, Ilgiz’s main source of inspiration is the natural world around him. Whether it’s a dragonfly, a flower or a mountain, enamel is central to his expressive, naturalistic aesthetic. The enamel is applied using his favorite “champleve” technique, which involves cutting grooves in the surface of the metal and filling them in with enamel before firing. His intricate, incredibly detailed masterpieces can be admired at 1stdibs.com and at Bentley & Skinner in London.
Another designer who has been instrumental in bringing vitreous enamel jewelery to the attention of a wider audience is Briton Alice Cicolini, whose striking creations are made by traditional Jaipur artisans in India using the ancient technique of meenakari enamel (similar to the European champlevé technique). The technique that her enamel maker Kamal Meenakar – one of the last meenakari artisans left in Jaipur – uses to create his jewels is a closely guarded secret, Alice said only that the jewels are kilned “quite a few” times, but Alice notes that it is important not only technology itself. How it is applied is critical to the finished look: “Kamal is an artist, not a maker, and in this respect he brings a particular interpretation or mood to a piece of jewelry as he works. Giving space to the craftsman to bring himself into the work brings a unique poetry to the jewelry.”
Along with established enamel jewelry designers like Cicolini and Ilgiz F., others are just starting to experiment with vitreous enamel, with great results. Nada Ghazal is best known for her sensuous, sinuous jewelery adorned with undulating patterns of colored gemstones, but she has taken a different direction with her My Muse Glory pieces, part of the new My Muse collection. Inspired by the patterns on the ceiling of the Grand Theater in Beirut, her hometown, Nada’s artisans used the champlevé technique to color necklaces, rings, earrings and pendants, carving gold and filling voids with a vitreous powder that turns into brilliant purple, red and pink accents in the oven. .
Bright beauty of lacquer enamel
Because of the artisanal nature of hot enamel – even after years of practice it’s so temperamental that you never know what might happen in a kiln – jewelry made using this technique is often one of a kind, with a price tag to match. Easier to apply is a technique known as lacquer enamel (also called cold enamel), which is becoming popular with designers looking to incorporate flashes of color into repetitive collectible pieces. While it cannot replicate the beautiful iridescence and depth of hot enamel hues, cold enamel is an exciting material to work with as it can achieve intense color in a rainbow of hues.
Lacquer in the traditional Eastern sense was made from tree sap, but lacquer enamel is a more modern technique. Using a pigmented resin to produce a brilliant color block without the use of high temperatures, cold enamel is applied to the metal, often several times, until the desired depth and luster is achieved, or poured into a cavity, dried to a hard coat, which is filed and polished to a high sheen. Cold enamel is often perceived as inferior to vitreous enamel, in fact, even a beginner can experiment with cold enamel. Perhaps it is less volatile and requires less time, but Alice Cicolini does not consider it a less perfect material – it all depends on the master who uses it.
For the new Sari collection, inspired by the rich Indian sari tradition, Alice uses the strengths of lacquer enamel that hot enamel cannot provide. Combining playful stripes, patterns and polka dots with vibrant colored gemstones, vibrant hues and crisp geometry look and feel very different from her hand-engraved enamel jewelry. “I was lucky to find a master in Stanislav Reimer,” she says, “who is also inspired by the fact that varnish can do what vitreous enamel cannot.” By working with an expert in their field, there is room for innovation. Together, they invented new ways to fix color within color without requiring metal barriers, creating marbled enamels, and molding enamel molds, which is not possible with hot enamel.
To show just how captivating this technique can be, the Boucheron Snake bracelet from the new Ailleurs High Jewelery collection sparkles with tsavorites and has a scale pattern in lacquer enamel. The playful nature of the lime green enamel lends a cartoonish touch to this sly snake, but don’t be fooled: this is a serious piece of jewelry for serious collectors.
Last year, jewelry with bright enamel flooded social networks. Now she is making her way into the rare world of high jewelery and there is no doubt that these mood-boosting splashes of color will stay here.
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