Amin Gulgee's art jewelry is an extension of his essential medium-sculpture. The artist's jewelry is as varied as his larger sculptural work: It ranges from clean and linear designs inspired by the long art historical tradition of Islamic calligraphy to more organic and abstract forms which find their source in the artist's subconscious. Indeed, the process of creating the jewelry and the sculpture is interconnected. The artist explains: "I do not sketch out my sculptures before making them. I work out my ideas through jewelry."

The work is not altogether one in the same, however: Although Amin's sculpture is in bronze, his one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces are fashioned with copper plated in 24-karat gold and often set with semi-precious stones or crystals or glass. The artist, who holds a B.A. in Art History from Yale University, often employs jewelry techniques that are evocative of past traditions. Moghul enamel work is combined, for example, with materials such as rock crystal, which were revered by the early Fatmids for their luminosity. While the techniques used in the pieces are redolent of various jewelry legacies, their sculptural settings render them fresh and contemporary.

It is in this way that Amin has been able to successfully introduce the concept of wearable art to his homeland, a place steeped in art historical tradition-and often intractable fashion habits. As Nina Hyde, Fashion Editor of the Washington Post, wrote: "His jewelry is made of elements rarely worn by the wealthy women of Pakistan who prefer gold and precious stones. Yet the creations by jewelry designer-sculptor Amin Gulgee have gotten rave reviews from the women and critics in his country. Even when he uses such unlikely materials as cowbells, nails and washers in his pendants, they rave-and wear them."

And not just in Pakistan. As the New York Daily News enthused of his one-man exhibition at the Lawrence Gallery in Manhattan: "Sculpture or jewelry? Who cares when it's as beautiful and as strange as Amin Gulgee's intricate and organic work in gold or silver-dipped copper, crystals or semi-precious stones? Each piece looks like a glorious accident of nature." While Amin has collaborated with every major Pakistani fashion designer, his jewelry pieces have also been repeatedly used by New York designer Mary McFadden to complement her haute couture collections. Clients of his jewelry include Helen Gurly-Brown, Carolina Herrera and Mrs. Boutros Boutros Ghali.

Amin's Egg Series also led to a thirty-minute fashion show/performance piece entitled "Alchemy" that the artist presented at the Karachi Sheraton in September 2000. Divided into three sections - bronze, silver and gold - "Alchemy" was about pregnancy as the most magical alchemic process that exists in life. In September 2001, Amin followed up "Alchemy" with another show, called "Sola Singhar." The term sola singhar is used in Urdu to denote the sixteen adornments a woman traditionally applies before marriage. Divided into four sections, the show "Sola Singhar" depicted the life of a woman, from birth to emancipation, using fashion, dance, film and music.