The craft

Ancient Techniques • Sacred Materials • Months of Patient Work

A Thousand Years in the Making

The art of Khmer lacquerwork dates back over 1,000 years, originating in the royal workshops of ancient Cambodia. This is not a craft that can be rushed, replicated by machines, or taught in a weekend course. It is a discipline that demands months of patient, repetitive work—layer upon microscopic layer, each requiring days to cure before the next can be applied.

Eric Stocker is among the last remaining masters who possess this complete technique. What you see in each finished piece represents not just the 2-6 months of its creation, but a millennium of accumulated knowledge, passed down through generations of artisans who understood that true mastery reveals itself only through time.

The Process: 80 to 300+ Hours

1. The Foundation: Hand-Turned Wood

Every urn begins with a solid piece of Hevea wood (rubber tree), sustainably sourced and hand-turned on a traditional lathe. The wood is shaped, sanded, and prepared to receive lacquer—a process that alone can take several days. The wood must be perfectly smooth, perfectly balanced, with walls of precise thickness to support the weight of lacquer layers to come.

2. The Lacquer: 20-50 Layers, Weeks Between Each

Natural lacquer comes from the sap of the Toxicodendron tree, harvested by hand in limited quantities. This is not synthetic varnish—it is a living material, temperamental and demanding.

Each layer is applied by hand with a brush, then left to cure in controlled humidity for 3-7 days. Twenty layers minimum for Standard Collection pieces. Thirty to fifty layers for Prestige works. Each layer builds depth, luminosity, and that unmistakable glow that cannot be replicated by any modern process.

Between layers, the surface is polished smooth with increasingly fine abrasives—charcoal powder, then mineral powders, then by hand with palm oil until the surface begins to develop its signature mirror-like depth.

3. The Inlay: Eggshell, Fragment by Fragment

This is where patience transforms into art.

Eggshell is crushed into fragments—some as small as a pinhead—and placed onto the lacquered surface one piece at a time with tweezers. The artisan works by eye, by feel, by decades of muscle memory, creating intricate patterns: geometric precision in the Turtle design, flowing organic forms in the Butterfly, celestial arrangements in the Milky Way.

Each fragment is pressed into a fresh layer of lacquer, allowed to set, then the entire surface is coated with additional lacquer layers to seal and protect. The eggshell creates luminous contrast—pure white against deep lacquer blacks, golds, and reds.

For a single urn, this process can involve placing thousands of individual fragments. There are no shortcuts. There is no machine that can replicate the human eye's ability to balance asymmetry into harmony.

4. Gold Leaf: 24-Karat Radiance

Pure 24-karat gold leaf—thinner than a human hair, so delicate that a breath can destroy it—is applied in sections using traditional gilding techniques. Sometimes white gold is used for subtle contrast, catching light differently than yellow gold.

The gold is not painted on. It is laid—pressed into tacky lacquer with soft brushes and fingertips, burnished until it bonds permanently with the surface. This is the same technique used in temple decoration for centuries, the same technique Eric learned while restoring gilded surfaces in French National Museums.

5. The Final Layers: Depth and Luminosity

After inlay and gilding, additional lacquer layers are applied—5, 10, sometimes 15 more—each polished to a glass-like finish. This is what creates the extraordinary depth you see in finished pieces: light traveling through translucent layers, reflecting off gold, bouncing back through lacquer, creating a glow that seems to come from within.

The final polishing alone can take 20-30 hours. The artisan works with finer and finer abrasives, then compounds, then by hand with oil and palm until the surface achieves that unmistakable museum-quality finish—smooth as glass, deep as water, luminous as if lit from within.

Prestige Collection: Months of Mastery

The Prestige Collection represents Eric's highest achievements—pieces that push the boundaries of what is possible within this ancient technique.

Beetle Wings: Ancient Egyptian Technique

The iridescent elytra (wing covers) of Southeast Asian jewel beetles have been used in art for over 3,000 years. Ancient Egyptians incorporated them into scarab jewelry. Thai artisans used them in temple decoration. Eric uses them in cremation urns, where their natural iridescence—impossible to replicate with modern materials—creates surfaces that shimmer with greens, blues, and purples that shift as you move.

Each beetle wing must be carefully prepared, cut, and inlaid. The natural variation means no two pieces are ever identical.

Abalone Mother-of-Pearl: Nature's Masterpiece

New Zealand paua abalone is considered the most iridescent shell in the world, with colors ranging from deep blues to vibrant greens, purples, and pinks. Eric sources the finest specimens, cuts them into precise shapes, and inlays them to create the hummingbird (Colibri) designs—birds that seem to hover, frozen mid-flight, their feathers catching light like the living creatures they represent.

The abalone fragments are paired with beetle wings and gold leaf, creating surfaces of extraordinary complexity and beauty.

Genuine Gemstones: 20.4 Carats

The Precious, Eric's masterwork, incorporates 52 genuine garnets and 160 genuine emeralds, totaling 20.4 carats—certified by a French gemologist. Each stone is hand-set with jeweler's precision, creating patterns that reference both Khmer temple decoration and French haute joaillerie.

This is not costume jewelry embedded in a memorial urn. This is a work of art that would not be out of place in a museum case alongside Fabergé eggs and Mughal jewelry.

Sacred Materials, Sacred Meanings

Every material used in these urns carries symbolic weight, drawn from centuries of tradition:

When you choose materials for a custom commission, you are not simply selecting colors—you are incorporating symbols that have resonated across cultures for millennia.

Why Museum-Quality Matters

The urns created by Eric Stocker are directly comparable to museum holdings worldwide:

• Victoria & Albert Museum, London: Cambodian lacquerware from the 19th century
• Asian Art Museum, San Francisco: Burmese and Thai lacquer masterworks
• Musée Guimet, Paris: Khmer decorative arts collection

Japanese lacquer master Shibata Zeshin's works sell for over £500,000 at Christie's auctions. Chinese imperial lacquer boxes from the Qing Dynasty fetch $100,000-$1,000,000+ at Sotheby's.

Eric's pieces are not imitations of museum works—they are works of museum quality, created by a living master using authentic ancient techniques. They will appreciate in value over time, both as fine art and as family heirlooms.

A Dying Art, Preserved

This craft is on the verge of extinction. The number of masters who can execute the complete process—from wood turning to final polish—can be counted on two hands worldwide. Natural lacquer trees are increasingly rare. The patience required to spend months on a single piece is incompatible with modern mass production.

By commissioning a piece from Eric Stocker, you are participating in the preservation of a 1,000-year-old tradition. You are supporting the training of deaf artisans in Cambodia. And you are acquiring a work by a living master whose pieces will be sought by collectors and museums in generations to come.

Explore the Collection

Each urn represents months of patient work, rare materials, and techniques passed down through a millennium. Discover pieces worthy of the lives they honor.

View Standard Collection
View Prestige Collection
Commission a Custom Piece