All that glitters

The country's first woman rock photographer says her decision to swap her camera for jewelry-making equipment and launch her own line is a sign this wild child is growing up and settling down. Chen Nan reports.

The country's first woman rock photographer says snapping hot shots was part of her youthful past, but jewelry-making suits her better now. Gao Yuan began chronicling the rock scene at 19 and went on to photograph nearly every major act, including such icons as Cui Jian and heavy metal outfit Tang Dynasty. She says it wasn't only her relationship with rocker Dou Wei, but also her wild heart that drew her to photography as an expressive medium.

But a decade later, Gao has hung up her camera to pursue a new medium for communicating her creativity.

She recently attended a filmed discussion with an audience of about 100 on her Yuan jewelry brand.

She appeared clad head-to-toe in her signature color - black - explaining she feels much more comfortable on the other side of the camera.

"So, this is really an awkward moment for me," she says, smiling and scratching her head.

But she becomes animated when talking about her jewelry.

"I am not a 20-year-old rebellious soul anymore, so I use another way to express myself," the 37-year-old says.

She made her first piece of jewelry when she was 14 - a pair of earrings fashioned from short pencils. Since then, she has bought a plethora of beads and chains to make simple creations.

She says she continued making jewelry for the entire time she was snapping photos and working for record companies.

"My friends often asked me to make some jewelry for them, things like necklaces and rings. Most are rockers with cool and unique personalities, so my designs were expressions of their characters," she recalls.

Gao says photography and jewelry-making share similarities as art forms.

"Taking pictures for those bands was my life, not a job. I was crazy about them and expressed my love for them with my camera," she says.

"They're my friends, and I love their music. We were the same age, young and reckless. Now, I've grown up and can sit for hours working on a brooch or earring."

Her rock days were mostly linked with Dou, lead vocalist of the pioneering rock band Black Panther, in the early 1980s.

She expressed her love for him with her camera, capturing every moment of his life onstage and offstage.

Their relationship, which was said to be the cause of Dou's divorce from Asian pop diva Faye Wong in 1999, sustained Gao's place in the headlines. She also became a paparazzi target, until her marriage with Dou ended in 2006.

Gao is reluctant to discuss those days, except to call them "evidence of youth". She says she's grateful for the experiences and the daughter she had then.

She now photographs her 8-year-old, who also inspired her Mini jewelry series. The line features tiny adornments with the word "love" and images of bunnies.

"I am getting old, and she tamed me," she says of her daughter. "She makes my life happy and meaningful."

Gao says she never thought about making money from jewelry design until some friends suggested she start a brand.

She decided to turn the hobby into a career in 2007, when she met a jewelry-making master. Gao studied such techniques as carving, polishing and engraving for two years.

"When I really delved into mastering the skills, I found they were difficult and required a lot of patience," she says.

"I used to be so restless, which is what drove me to run around with my camera."

She became particularly fascinated with the process of working with metal.

"Metal is cold and lifeless in some people's eyes. But it's colorful and vibrant in mine," she says.

Gao says studying jewelry-making is like learning photography in many ways.

"You can learn the skills in classes, but later, you need to feel and create by yourself," she says.