After seven years of experimentation, he created the Wallace Chan porcelain, a 100-percent china material that is five times harder than steel.

The strength of the porcelain, he explains, is achieved by repeatedly baking the material under strictly controlled temperatures. This process also gives Wallace Chan porcelain its unique color and luster.

His first jewelry creation using this material was A New Generation, a ring with three large sapphires surrounded by diamonds and aquamarines. The piece was collected by the British Museum in London in 2019.

Born into a poor family in Fujian province in 1956, Chan moved to Hong Kong with his parents when he was 5 years old. He quit school at the age of 16 to become an apprentice in a sculpture studio, where he learned to carve Buddha statues and legendary figures out of precious stones.