Peter Chang had been called the Faberge of 21st Century, with his outlandish, extravagant, unorthodox and off-the-wall jewellery creations. He exploited the fundamental qualities of plastic with his high-voltage colours and the malleability of the material, continually developing new techniques and ideas that earnt him a global reputation as one of the foremost makers in his field.
“The pieces I create can be sculptures or they can be worn as jewellery. Each individual will have a different response to them and I like that”
Chang used plastic because it reflected the age we live in, was anonymous and could be moulded and sculpted into objects of splendour and frivolity. He saw himself as a visual artist aiming to create a synthesis between jewellery and sculpture with a hint of fantasy thrown in and he noted that ‘I like to incorporate a bit of fun: spice it up. People take things too seriously.’
Over his career he won numerous international awards including the Jerwood Prize for Applied Arts in 1995 for his ‘lasting significance and daring brilliance’, had major exhibitions at the likes of the Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, and in Germany at the Schmuckmuseum Pforzhei and his work is now held in the collections of museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Smithsonian, the Musée des Art Decoratifs, Montreal and the National Museum of Scotland.
