Peranakan jewellery is craft-intensive in a way that most contemporary fine jewellery is not. The pieces require a combination of structural goldsmithing, fine detail work, gem-setting, and finishing that few jewellery traditions demand at this level. A single Peranakan piece can require dozens of hours of handwork by a goldsmith with decades of training, drawing on craft techniques that have been refined over generations of Singapore workshop practice.
This article walks through the craft processes that go into making Peranakan fine jewellery, from the initial wax carving through the gold work, gem-setting, and finishing. The aim is to give a buyer a clearer sense of what they are looking at when they handle a Peranakan piece and why the craft quality is part of what justifies the investment in fine jewellery rather than costume jewellery.
The Goldsmith's Foundation
Before any of the specific techniques, the goldsmith's foundation skills are what make Peranakan jewellery possible.
Understanding gold as material. Gold at different purities behaves differently in the workshop. 22K and 24K gold are softer, more ductile, and require gentler handling but produce the richest colour. 18K gold is harder, holds gem-settings more securely, and supports more complex structural work. The goldsmith chooses purity based on what the specific piece requires.
Drawing wire. Fine gold wire is the starting point for filigree work and many other Peranakan techniques. Drawing wire to the right gauge requires careful work, with the wire passing through successively smaller drawing plates. Wire that is too coarse produces clumsy work; wire that is too fine breaks during handling.
Sheet metalwork. Gold sheet at the right thickness is the starting point for many piece bodies. Cutting, shaping, and forming the sheet to the design requires careful work to maintain even thickness, clean edges, and accurate geometry.
Soldering. Joining gold elements require solder formulated for the specific gold purity, applied with controlled heat. Bad soldering produces visible joints; good soldering produces invisible joints that nonetheless hold the piece together for generations of wear.
Filing and finishing. After the structural work is complete, the piece needs careful filing and finishing to bring it to its final form. This is where rough metalwork becomes refined jewellery, and where the goldsmith's eye for proportion and surface matters.
Wax Carving and Lost-Wax Casting
For pieces that include cast elements (rather than being entirely fabricated from wire and sheet), wax carving is the starting point.
The goldsmith carves the design into wax, working at scale or slightly oversized to allow for the slight shrinkage that occurs in casting. The wax model is then invested in a refractory mould, the wax is melted out, and molten gold is poured in to replace it. The resulting cast piece is rough and requires substantial finishing work, but the casting process allows for complex three-dimensional forms that would be difficult to fabricate by hand.
Lost-wax casting has been used in Asian fine jewellery for thousands of years. The technique is particularly suited to forms that involve curved surfaces, internal volumes, or complex undercuts. Many of the dimensional fan-motif elements in the Legacy® Fan Series, for instance, benefit from cast construction that would be difficult to achieve through pure fabrication.
Filigree: The Signature Technique
Filigree is arguably the most distinctive Peranakan craft technique, and the one that most clearly demonstrates the depth of the tradition's craft.
Filigree work uses fine gold wire, sometimes twisted, sometimes single strand, formed into delicate patterns. The wire is shaped by hand into curves, scrolls, and decorative motifs, then soldered into place either as standalone open-work patterns or as decoration applied to a solid metal background.
Open-work filigree. The most demanding form of filigree, where the gold wire patterns are self-supporting without a backing. Open-work filigree requires extremely careful soldering, since the wire intersections are the structural foundation of the piece. Heyday-era Peranakan kerosang sets sometimes featured open-work filigree as the primary structural element.
Applied filigree. Wire patterns applied to a solid metal background, where the backing provides structural support and the filigree provides decorative surface. Applied filigree is more forgiving than open-work but still demanding, particularly when the patterns are dense or when the wire is very fine.
Twisted-wire filigree. Some Peranakan filigree uses twisted gold wire (two or more strands of wire twisted together before being shaped) to produce textured patterns. Twisted-wire work catches light differently from single-strand wire and was used in formal pieces requiring extra visual richness.
Granulation alongside filigree. Fine gold granules (small gold beads) are sometimes applied alongside filigree work to produce textured patterns. The granules are formed by melting small pieces of gold wire and allowing surface tension to form them into spheres, then carefully applied to the piece. Granulation is one of the most ancient gold-working techniques and continues in some traditional Peranakan work.
Stone Setting
Setting gemstones securely into a piece requires its own range of techniques, each suited to different stones and design contexts.
Prong setting. The most common modern setting, with metal prongs holding the stone in place from above. Prong setting maximises the visibility of the stone and works well for most cut gemstones. The Legacy® Fan Series pieces use prong setting for the diamond accents and for the central-coloured stones in most variants.
Bezel setting. A continuous metal band surrounding the stone, holding it in place from the edge rather than from above. Bezel setting is more secure than prong setting and protects the stone better at the cost of showing less of the stone's surface. Bezel setting is used in pieces designed for daily wear where security takes priority over maximum light transmission.
Channel and pavé setting. For multiple small stones set in close formation, channel setting (stones held in a continuous metal channel) and pavé setting (stones held by small metal beads) produce dense sparkle. Pavé setting is technically demanding, requiring precise spacing and careful stone selection.
Closed-back setting. Traditional setting where the back of the stone is enclosed by metal, sometimes with a reflective surface behind the stone to enhance brilliance. This was common in older Peranakan pieces, particularly those using intan diamonds where back-reflection enhanced the stone's appearance.
Inlay setting. For mother of pearl pieces, the material is typically inlaid into a metal frame rather than set with prongs. The inlay technique allows the material to be displayed flat and protects its surface. The Mother of Pearl pieces in the Legacy® Fan Series use this approach.
Hallmarking and Finishing
Once the structural goldwork, filigree, and gem-setting are complete, the piece undergoes its final finishing and hallmarking.
Polishing and surface finishing. Surface finishing brings the piece from its working state to its finished appearance. Polishing techniques vary from high-gloss surfaces for contemporary contexts to matte and textured finishes for specific design effects. The choice of finish affects how the piece reads visually and how it ages with wear.
Singapore Assay Office hallmarking. Modern Singapore fine jewellery is sent to the Singapore Assay Office for hallmark testing, where the gold purity is verified against the stated standard. Pieces that pass are struck with the SAO hallmark, certifying the gold meets Singapore Standard SS581:2020. The hallmark is permanent and travels with the piece for its full life.
Quality control inspection. Before a piece leaves the workshop for sale, it should pass careful quality control: every stone setting is checked for security, every clasp and fastening is checked for function, every surface is checked for finishing quality. Quality control is one of the ways established brands like Poh Heng protect their reputation across decades of operation.
The Modern Workshop Today
Contemporary Peranakan jewellery is made in workshops that combine traditional craft with modern equipment.
Computer-aided design supports but does not replace handcraft. Modern workshops use CAD software for design development, prototyping, and complex geometry that would be difficult to achieve through pure handwork. But the actual gold work, the filigree, the stone-setting, the finishing, all remain handwork. CAD is a suppporting tool for the goldsmith, not a replacement.
Modern soldering and laser welding. Modern equipment allows for more precise joins and repairs than was possible with traditional soldering alone. Laser welding in particular is useful for repair work and for joining pieces with minimal heat impact on surrounding materials.
Traditional techniques continue. The core traditional techniques (wire drawing, filigree, granulation, hand stone-setting, hand polishing) all continue in modern workshops. These are the techniques that produce work readable as Peranakan fine jewellery rather than generic fine jewellery, and they require the same hand skills that goldsmiths have used for generations.
Continuous training matters. Workshops that have been continuously operating across decades carry the institutional knowledge that supports high-quality output. Poh Heng's continuous operation since 1948 includes continuous workshop practice, with techniques passed from goldsmith to goldsmith across generations of workshop staff.
What This Means for a Buyer
Understanding the craft behind a Peranakan piece changes how you look at it.
Hours of handwork are embedded in every piece. A serious Peranakan fine jewellery piece represents dozens of hours of work by skilled goldsmiths. The price reflects that work, alongside the materials and the brand context. Understanding the labour component helps make sense of why fine jewellery costs what it does.
Craft quality is visible to those who look. Once you know what to look for (clean prong work, even filigree, well-fitted joins, smooth finishing), you can evaluate craft quality directly. Pieces that show evidence of careful craft are different from pieces that show evidence of shortcut production.
Continuous-heritage workshops carry institutional craft knowledge. Brands with continuous workshop operation across decades carry institutional knowledge that newer brands do not. The accumulated expertise affects everything from how the work is planned to how problems are solved to how quality is judged.
The Legacy® Fan Series brings these techniques into a contemporary collection. The Fan Series pieces use the full range of traditional Peranakan craft techniques: structural goldwork, filigree where appropriate, careful prong and bezel setting for the gemstones, inlay setting for the mother of pearl, and the full finishing and hallmarking that turns workshop output into market-ready fine jewellery.
To see contemporary Peranakan craft in person, visit a Poh Heng store or browse the Legacy® collection online. The pieces speak for themselves once you know what you are looking at.
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