About

Anabela Chan Joaillerie invites you to discover ‘Tales of Trash to Treasures’ — a story of fine jewellery creations using recycled and refined aluminium from drink cans as the base metal, paired with scintillating laboratory-grown and created gemstones. 

The innovative use of recycled aluminium in fine jewellery comes as a result of two years of research, trial and error. With an alchemy of precious, natural and manmade materials, Anabela combines elegant sculptural forms with dream-like romanticism and thought-provoking narratives. 

Every story begins by hand-carving the designs in wax before casting in parts, then assembling, polishing and engraving in meticulous detail. Every stone is carefully selected for its brilliance and colour; then cut, faceted, polished and set painstakingly by hand using traditional artisan techniques.

By taking waste aluminium drink cans as the base metal, the cans are cut up into small 1.5cm squares, then melted at approximately 600C (the colours printed on the outside of the cans disappear in the heat). Through a process of refining it to overcome the impurities, the molten aluminium is then poured into ingots (bars of metal cooled from the melted and refined aluminium), ready for casting. From the ingots onwards, similar to gold pebbles and bars, the process is the same as working with precious metals in jewellery, where Anabela is able to create miniature sculptures through the ancient artisanal process of lost-wax casting.

The biggest challenge with recycling aluminium cans are the impurities in the metal that cause issues with porosity, an uneven texture and tiny pores in the surface of the finished piece. By refining the recycled aluminium, through a process of trial and error, Anabela was able to overcome this and actually take advantage of a controlled porosity that allows her to achieve greater colour intensity. The unusual, incredible psychedelic iridescent colours have been achieved using physical vapour deposition, known as PVD, the same technique used in the car industries to colour car bodies.