Frenchman calls China his playground
He knew so little of the country's traditional techniques and ideas that he would later become fascinated with them.
It's hard to pin down the culture shock he experienced in the Middle Kingdom.
"The Chinese and us approach things differently," he says. "The first things we notice are different."
Taking in an Asian point of view during his time in China, he also worked and learned from craftspeople from different ethnic groups, each with their own aesthetics and ways of handling materials.During a recent field trip to Southwest China's Yunnan province to meet the Bai ethnic group, Favard was surprised by their thinking. The ethnic people first build a house with one side lying on the ground and erect it when finished. The Bai jewelry-makers hollow out a metal piece differently, too.
"It's not an item or one technique that goes into my design, but the philosophy behind it," he says. "I would like to merge European and Chinese concepts."
Chinese influences have also seeped into how a pair of "eardrops" he designed dangle and rotate.
"It is in circles because a round shape is essential to the Chinese."
When it comes to color pairings, it is pale and jade blue, he says.
"So it reminds them of Chinese landscape paintings."
The designs, different metals, gems and other materials are often mixed together for new effects.
