RECONSTRUCTED CORAL

 History

Coral is the external skeletal remains of a tiny animal called the "coral polyp," which is a sea creature shaped like a tube. It's in the organic gem category, like other stones made from nature, including pearls, amber and jet. Thousands of these polyps live in the ocean on remains of other polyps, which create huge underwater coral reefs. Most coral is harvested from the Mediterranean Sea and areas of the Pacific Ocean near Japan and Taiwan.[1]

The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Native Americans used red, pink, and white corals extensively. Deep red, bright pink, and clear white corals were highly prized. Inland cultures far from the sources of coral would trade for these resources.

In the 1970s, Pierre Gilson developed “created corals” to help protect the natural variety from destructive harvesting. This imitation red and pink coral has a specific gravity (SG) of 2.44. This is always lower than natural red and pink material. This synthetic has weak birefringence and lacks natural structure. Under high magnification, you can see a fine granular texture.

When coral is reconstituted, it means that what appears to be a single piece of coral has actually been created from small pieces of coral or coral powder and other ocean material that has been soaked in binding agents, pressed into one solid piece and then re-cut to be set into jewelry.

Reconstituted coral is usually dyed to achieve a more uniform appearance. Simulated coral is not real natural coral at all, and can be made from any number of man-made materials, such as plastic or resin, to resemble the real stone. [2]

Engineered stone is a composite material made of crushed stone bound together by an adhesive, (most commonly polymer resin, with some newer versions using cement mix). Engineered stone is also commonly referred to as agglomerate or agglomerated stone, Stone aggregates is the major filler, although other material like colored glass, shells, metals, or mirrors might be added. A typical resin based material will consist of 93% stone aggregates by weight and 7% resin (66% quartz and 34% resin by volume) . Different types of resins are used by different manufacturers. Epoxy and polyester resin are the most common types. Chemicals such as UV absorbers and stabilizers are added. Plastic imitations can be identified through hot point testing or acid testing.  These procedures should only be done by a professional.[3]

original from National museum collection

Photo credit: Nationalmuseum

Castello Hansen creates jewelry with simple minimalistic forms, yet his jewelry is expressive. He often works with the jeweler itself as a subject matter. Hansen often incorporates reconstructed stones in his jewelry. Hansen investigates the creative potential that merges when crossing boundaries between the different techniques and media used in jewelry” [4]

Hanson’s ring from the national museum is made of reconstructed stone and gold. The reconstructed coral is an imitation of a pink coral and it has a tip in the front of the ring. This tip makes me think that the material has been formed on a lathe. The ring is minimal in its expression, and it the shape of a circle and an oval that are placed in opposite orientations.

One can clearly see that Hansen’s ring is made of reconstructed stone since it has no color change or incrustations. A precious coral of that size would so valuable and it would be unlikely that it would have been shaped in a strict geometrical shape.

re-designed RING

RE-DESIGN

I was able to locate some reconstructed red coral stone when I was traveling in Thailand. The stone has a beautiful color change from deep red to a lighter veins that goes through the stone.

When I saw Hansen’s ring for the first time, it reminded me of a signet ring. A signet can be seen as a formal transformation of a horizontal circle to a vertical circle. I have chosen to continue this thought and hand carve signet rings out of the reconstructed coral. I will keep Hansen’s strict forma language by creating a minimal signet with no extra ornaments.

By doings so I will create signet rings made of only coral, which could not have been done before this kind of reconstructed coral was invented. This type of reconstructed coral did not exist before advanced polymer resin was invented.

process picture

3d-model of redesign

Footnotes

[1] https://oureverydaylife.com/types-of-coral-jewelry-12800829.html

[2]  An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson

[3] https://www.gemsociety.org/article/coral-jewelry-and-gemstone-information/

[4] https://www.la-joaillerie-par-mazlo.fr/en/portfolio/castello-hansen-2/

This project was made possible with the support of