Britain's most famous luxury car marque brings woodland magic to London Craft Week
At this year’s London Craft Week (12–18 May 2025), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is bringing a captivating artistic display that reimagines the British countryside in exquisite detail and craftsmanship.
Created by artisans at the marque’s Goodwood headquarters, the triptych artwork draws on the flora and fauna of the British Isles, presenting a woodland scene across three evocative moments: day, evening, and night. The centrepiece is a kingfisher, depicted in each panel using a range of complex techniques, transforming leather, wood, metal and thread into an immersive natural tableau.
Chloe Dowsett, Bespoke Specialist at Rolls-Royce, explained the concept behind the triptych. “We wanted the three panels to talk to each other, to be connected,” Chloe explained. “The reeds at the bottom of the first panel, which are made of metal, in rusty red and mandarin orange, are matched in the second panel with grasses in leather dyed in similar hues.”
Paul Ferris, also a Bespoke Specialist at the marque, gave further details about the cohesive nature of the artwork. “For the first time we had the chance to create something that had nothing to do with…
Mesmerising mythology at a major new sculpture exhibition in Norfolk
Mythological beasts stalk the grounds of Houghton Hall – in a good way. The stately home in Norfolk is presenting Stephen Cox: Myth, an absorbing new exhibition of the work of the British sculptor. Arranged across the park gardens and interiors, this is the most comprehensive retrospective ever of the Royal Academician’s sculpture. Covering more […]
A landmark exhibition uncovering the artist’s overlooked prints
Everyone is familiar with JMW Turner’s matchless oils and watercolours. His 1839 masterpiece, the oil painting The Fighting Temeraire, is regularly voted the greatest British artwork of all time. To mark the 250th anniversary of his birth, the Whitworth gallery in Manchester is mounting an enthralling new exhibition of his prints, equally magnetic, yet far […]
For over a century, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts have delighted guests with unforgettable musical moments. From John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s now famous “Bed-In for Peace” at Montreal’s Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth, to a punk rock Ramones concert held at Fairmont Olympic Hotel’s ballroom in Seattle, Fairmont has been at the forefront of impactful events throughout music history.
Last year, the luxury hotel brand partnered up with the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF) in a programme aimed at nurturing musical talent. The pilot European tour was a great success so in 2020, Fairmont has extended its collaboration with the MJF to 13 events worldwide with musicians Jalen N’Gonda and Bobby Bazini.
Jalen N’Gonda performed at six Fairmont properties in South and North America. Canadian blues and soul-inspired musician Bobby Bazini has been touring another six cities in Europe and Asia from February 22nd to March 5th, in advance of the release of his new album Move Away, coming out later in May.
To close off the tour, the two artists will meet at Fairmont Le Montreux Palace for a final “jam session” on March 7th. Jalen N’Gonda and Bobby Bazini are integrated in the talent pipeline of the non-profit Montreux Jazz Artists Foundation (MJAF), dedicated to scout and promote up- and-coming artists.
Londoners will have the chance to enjoy an unforgettable evening of jazz with Bobby Bazini on March 3rd at the Fairmont Savoy hotel. Those wishing to enjoy Bazini’s soulful Canadian tones can purchase a ticket for £25 via Design My Night and the cost of the ticket can be redeemed against food within the hotel on the night. Hotel guests are welcome to join the performance complementary with their stay.
Bobby Bazini live at The Savoy. March 3th 2020, 20:30 – 22:00 For tickets: www.designmynight.com
Seventy years of Prancing Horse victories at Le Mans are celebrated in this exhibition, which looks back over the 36 wins recorded on the French track, with the help of some of the cars that competed in the famous races plus multimedia and interactive contents.
Visitors are welcome by the 166 MM Barchetta Touring. With a similar car, Lord Selsdon and Luigi Chinetti triumphed on 26 June 1949, on Ferrari’s debut at Le Mans. The British aristocrat and the Milanese driver transplanted to America faced a large number of British and French professionals whose cars had twice the engine capacity of the Ferrari. Nevertheless, they won with an average speed of 132.946 km/h. Chinetti went down in history by driving for over 23 hours, handing the wheel to Lord Selsdon for just 30 minutes. I bet the latter was happy!
Against all odds, Ferrari won Le Mans the first time they entered the race in 1949, with its 166MM.
The exhibition also includes the 275 P in which Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964 with an astonishing average speed of 195.63 km/h, ahead of two Ferrari 330 Ps. The 275 P is part of the legendary and incredibly successful P series; the number refers to the unit displacement, while the letter P stands for prototype.
Then, of course, there is the 488 GTE with which Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Daniel Serra won the last edition of the French marathon, gifting Ferrari its 27th class victory, 70 years after the first triumph of the 166 MM. In order to get you into the right mood, Ferrari has created “Le Mans Experience”, an exciting film that combines evocative images of the race with some of the most important messages recorded by the drivers and the team during the 24 Hours.
Ferrari 488GTE, winner of Le Mans 2019.
If you fancy yourself a Le Mans racer, you can have a virtual go at the wheel of the 488 GTE on the circuit of Le Mans, in the simulator set up inside the exhibition area.
Many other historical specimens are on display within the two current exhibitions in progress at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, ‘Hypercars – The evolution of uniqueness’ and ’90 years – Scuderia Ferrari, the complete story’. They are open every day from 9.30am to 7pm.
On the night of the 14th January The House of Bvlgari was named “Best Jewellery” of 2020 at the “Best of the Best Awards” in Shanghai, during which the Hurun Research Institute’s “Best of the Best” Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey 2020 was released, with Bvlgari topping the awards list for “Best Jewellery” after making the list for four consecutive years.
Bvlgari’s night did not stop there. They went on to win second place for “Best Brands for gifting by Women” and” Best Jewellery Watch” and made the list for “Best Overall Watch”. To be honest, such a success shouldn’t come as a surprise. Bvlgari not just says “glamour”, it yells it! With its refined, elegant designs and its extraordinary quality, the brand has exuded excellence since its very beginning, back in 1884. From the start, Bvlgari has been worn by some of the most beautiful women in the world. Richard Burton once said that “the only word Elizabeth knows in Italian is Bvlgari,” referring to his then-wife, Elizabeth Taylor.
Cinemagia High Jewelry Collection Dolcevita Colours Necklace.
One of the most glamorous actresses in cinematic history, Burton lavished her with jewellery gifts during the filming of Cleopatra in 1963. However, Liz Taylor was not the only diva from the golden years of Hollywood that favoured Bvlgari, formidable stars like Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren were big fans of the Rome based jewellery maker.
Established over a century ago, the famed jewellery house of Bvlgari has always stood for superlative Italian craftsmanship and savoir-faire. Throughout the years, the style of the Maison has continued to evolve with ever-changing trends in fashion, the tastes of their affluent clients and the roaring artistic landscape of the jewellery world. What remained unvaried is the impeccable quality guaranteed by each and every piece of art created by the master craftsmen and designers at Bvlgari, characterised by the bold use of chromatic colours, complemented by volume and masses that render the Maison’s majestic designs.
Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT Automatic BVLGARI Serpenti Seduttori.
The origins of these creations are found after the 1950s, when Bvlgari experimented with the playfulness of multi-coloured gemstones augmented by yellow gold mountings, as well as the generous use of cabochons that has afforded a distinctive fair unique to Bvlgari. As they approached the new millennium, designs returned to a more geometrical and two-dimensional expression, with a cheery “chicness” well-suited to the women of the 21st century. To me, Bvlgari, with its rich history and no-fear approach to design, is a true embodiment of the fun and audacious women of our present and future.
The Danish-Icelandic artist’s exhibition Symbiotic Seeing, which can be seen at Kunsthaus Zürich until March 22, lets you experience the world from the viewpoint of algae, be part of an atmospheric system and enjoy a robot playing a four-tune soundtrack – all in hope of a better world.
Darwin was wrong: Collaboration in the form of symbiosis makes you stronger and more likely to not only survive, but also evolve. In the 1970s this was a rather radical approach to science, but it is getting more and more accepted. And now, in the Anthropocene epoch, we are standing at a crossroads where we better start collaborating or we are in dire straits. Still with all the future-oriented anxiety swirling through our times, Olafur Eliasson’s Symbiotic Seeing at Kunsthaus Zürich fills you with hope and positive awe.
Room 2, taken up with the 2020 work that gives the exhibition its name, is the most spectacular. Here, a thin veil of light creates a second ceiling some two and half metres up, halfway to the real one. Thanks to a smoke machine the veil becomes an ongoing, ever-changing picture reminiscent of the primordial soup, an intergalactic cocktail of the microscopic movement of bacteria – what you would see if you looked very minutely at the world around you or into galaxies far, far away.
“The room is an atmospheric situation. The temperature is kept at around 22°C, whereas our bodies are 37°C. The heat the emanates from our bodies goes towards the ceiling. Our mere presence, the change in temperatures and the air movement generated by our motion creates swirls and holes changing the images above us, which could make us question how we interact with the world,” explains Eliasson, who in September 2019 was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for climate action by the United Nations Development Programme.
The simple set-up with spotlights situated in each corner and moving smoke probably sounds very 1970s psychedelic, but to me, the swirls somehow have more in common with 1920s art nouveau posters than the dopey 1970s. It makes sense, since the work is about heightened awareness rather than Asbury Heights; the ever-changing swirls also become a beautiful symbol of unaware, unintentional symbiosis.
Passage 2 houses Algae windows (2020), a live peep show of hundreds of half domes in front of a corridor and window, which gives you upside down images of visitors as well as of the city of Zurich. Eliasson means it to mimic the point of view of algae. It is also a good example that the art itself is symbiotic; it is changing, evolving, creating new experiences. Are you looking or are you being looked at?
After a small tour through the exhibition – which also includes Escaped light landscape (2020), a slow-moving “flair machine” creating a spacey sci-fi environment – Eliasson and his assistant invite me to a back corridor used for interviews. Here, we are “protected” from the subtle four-note live loop adding a sonic tapestry to the whole exhibition. “I don’t know if it is music, because it is only four notes in a cello piece written for a one-armed robot,” he says about the tirelessly playing industrial robot arm some 30 metres away from us. He offers me some water and bites into a croissant, which leaves a few crumbles in his large beard as we dive into our discussion.
What role does the individual mind play in a symbiotic world?
I think it plays a significant role, but I don’t think the challenge of today is that we are losing the individual mind, rather the challenge is that we have an unprecedented amount of egotism and this means that there is quite a bit of space to take away from the obsessive nature of the individual to contribute to a sense of collectivity. For me, the sense of connectedness is not a dogma or a theoretical or political or religious concept, connectedness is a sense of causality – when you do something, it has consequences and you can feel them. When you vote, it has consequences; when you say, write or do something, it has consequences. This is what I think the question of symbiosis is about, because it is one system in which one sees oneself as a part of a bigger one.
Weather Orb, 2020 Photo by Franca Candrian @2020 Olafur Eliasson.
The environment is part of this bigger system. In your work, how do you find a balance between hope and apathy?
I am now, like everyone else, realising that continuing to live the way we do might end up depriving my grandchildren of their own existence. Yes, I think it is a valid question that a lot of people are discussing: Are we achieving more with a fear-based narrative or a hopeful, positive narrative? I have always in my art worked with a more inclusive and hopeful idea and not a fear-based narrative in order to encourage people in civic participation. We need to have a degree of hope that what we do actually matters. We want to create a future that is better than the past, and for that we need hope and not, I think, fear.
How do you look at the future?
I am actually quite scared, to be honest. But, one could say just like Desmond Tutu: I am a prisoner of hope.
Check out Little Sun, the charity project founded by Olafur Eliasson, with a vision of clean energy for all. So far, more than a million solar lights have been provided to places without electricity. www.littlesun.com
I was recently invited to a screening of the short film My Time, by Giulia Gandini, a young independent London based film director, known for her love of coming-of-age narratives.I guess that this is what My Time is, condensed into just a five minute film, but extremely impactful. It presents an “awkward situation” in a bold and effortless way, building up to an inevitability that can only make you smile and applaud the protagonist.
Set in a mixed secondary school, we are introduced to a classroom getting ready to give individual presentations on who each of their chosen heroes are and why. A young gentleman by the name of Mike is up first, and as he walks towards the blackboard up front, the teacher prompts Eva that she is to be up next, so she begins composing herself, gathering her notes and thoughts. Eva is played by Clara Read, a very confident and in my opinion, elegant actress.
As the young man starts off declaring Sherlock Holmes as his selected hero, we start to notice that Eva is becoming increasingly uncomfortable and distressed. A shot of where she is sat reveals bloodstains on her chair, seeping through her skirt. What a time to start a period!
I never managed to get confirmation of the class age, but Eva’s lack of preparation for such an occurrence suggest to me this could have been her very first menstruation, so immediately we can understand her horror.
In the meantime, Mike is heavily into his lecture on hero Sherlock, whilst Eva (foremost trying to conceal her mess) turns her head around to another part of the classroom in an attempt to catch the attention of her buddy… to no avail; BFF Emma is fast asleep. Mike’s ode to Sherlock Holmes must have lulled her into a dreamy snooze. Efforts by Eva to awake her by sending texts are no help. Like a good girl, Emma put her mobile on silent mode before class started.
Clara Read as Ava.
Eva appears more distressed, as her looks pivot around the room, desperately and hopelessly looking for a wall to just open up and swallow her into safety from this torture. To add insult to injury, her frantic demeanour only catches the attention of the students that have managed to stay awake. One mean spirited girl notices the bloodied seat, and does her best to inform other classmates so they can laugh at her in turn. A second girl doesn’t find Eva’s misfortunes quite as funny, and even goes as far as to offer her school jumper to perhaps wrap around her waist, just as the teacher is reminding Eva that she is next to be up front and centre. Astonishingly, the nice young lady’s offer isn’t taken up. Eva has found a source of inspiration that can get her through such a sticky situation, and it’s in the form of her completed homework.
Emma finally wakes up from her slumber to witness what a brave BFF she has. You see, Eva’s chosen hero is Wonder Woman, and clearly a “What Would Wonder Woman Do” thesis had overcome Eva pertaining to the unlucky predicament she was currently facing, and transformed her fear into an assertive empowerment.
With not a care in the world, Eva rises from her seat, and nonchalantly strides to the front of the class, ready to introduce her piece. However, “Sir” interrupts her; he has noticed what has befallen the young girl and hurriedly tries to excuse her. Again, Eva rejects the offer and begins to tell the class about her “Heroine”.
Clara Read as Ava.
In conclusion, My Time, felt like a fluctuating rollercoaster, even offering a touch of nostalgia; reminding me how horrible and unsympathetic classmates can be, but equally, that you always find others who are helpful and encouraging.
At my ripe age of 33, I must confess that such an organic picture and pure acting allowed me to see and feel from a young girl’s eyes, how terrifying the first stages of menstruation can be, and if my daughter ever needs help in the future, show her a potential way to empower herself to deal with the situation should something similar occur to her.
I definitely look forward to studying more of Giulia’s work in the future.
After watching the film, I had the pleasure to interview her to find out more about this brave young talent.
I-M: What inspired you to make a piece on the untimely menstruation of a young schoolgirl in class?
G.G: An experience a friend of mine had in middle school! She had her period in class and stained her jeans. I myself had my first period during PE at school. A lot of girls have “horror stories” about having their first period at school, but the reason why it’s a negative experience in the first place is because they’re made to believe that there’s something to be ashamed of. I wanted to create a short film that empowered young girls!
I-M: Was it awkward or uncomfortable at any point working with a predominantly young cast on such a taboo subject?
G.G: I wouldn’t say it was awkward or uncomfortable. I spoke about periods and menstrual blood very openly with all of them from the very first day of the shoot. We had posters promoting period positivity all over the set, and we offered free tampons as well as merchandise from charities supporting menstrual rights to cast and crew. It was great to create a safe place on set for the young actors to chat about menstruation.
I-M: In retrospect, is there anything about the picture that you would alter or edit now that it has been broadcasted for public consumption?
G.G: Not really. I’m not saying it’s perfect, there are definitely a couple things I’d do differently now; but I’m proud of what I’ve achieved with my team, and audiences have liked the film so far, so I wouldn’t want to change the essence of it.
I-M: Has My Time been well received at film festivals?
G.G: It was, and I’m very grateful for it. We’ve screened at film festivals all over the world, from California all the way to China, and the responses have been wonderful. The film was long-listed for the Oscars, I couldn’t have asked for anything better!
I-M: What have you got in store for us in this new year; any up and coming projects?
G.G: I’m in post-production on a documentary mini-series on homelessness called Home Stream, the first episode is currently out on Real Stories (we’ve just reached 3 million views online, so it’s very exciting). I’m also in pre-production on a new short film called Runner.
I-M: Finally, what advice would you give to young directors that may want to follow your path?
G.G: What really made the difference for me (in terms of developing my directing skills and having a successful festival run) was writing a story I genuinely cared about, and keeping it short and simple to give myself the opportunity to really convey emotion and style through directing. Might not work for everyone, but it definitely did for me.
Without any doubt, Ingmar Bergman is one of the best film directors of the 20th century and PERSONA is considered one of his most creative and possibly enigmatic pieces of work. Our Editor Julia Pasarón had the chance to speak to Olivier winner Alice Krige, who plays Sister Alma in this Production, just as the rehearsals started at the new Riverside Studios in London.
In the story, a famous stage actress, Elizabet, has suffered a psychological breakdown and relapsed into silence. She is sent with Sister Alma, the nurse assigned to her recovery, to a remote summer beach house. Can Alma coax Elizabet out of her silence? Truth, lies, manipulation and identity, PERSONA deeply explores the meaning of reality and consciousness.
Paul Schoolman brings his unique vision to create a new theatrical adaptation of this deeply unsettling and iconic film, adding the character of The Narrator and using Bergman’s unseen notes and words for a fresh take on this enigmatic masterpiece. Alice and her husband Paul are big fans of Bergman and have watched PERSONA many times. “It is one of the greatest films of all times,’ Alice told me, her voice full of admiration, “The original script was neither a play nor a film format, more like a manuscript, totally idiosyncratic.
He doesn’t name the characters when they speak, you figure that out as you follow the thread of the story. What was extraordinary about the manuscript is that there is this kind of stream of consciousness commentary on the creative process, which was Bergman’s voice in the manuscript. These were Bergman’s thoughts and musings, he’s both telling the story and giving stage directions. They weren’t meant for public consumption. They were moving the story forward, but also being a kind of mediation on the creative process.”
Pages from the original Persona shooting manuscript. Royal Library of Sweden @Ingmar Bergman Foundation.
In order to understand PERSONA, one needs to understand how it got to be created. Bergman wrote the script in hospital, high on pharmaceuticals. It seems that he had a script deadline to write something else, but he was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and in his sort of semi delirious state caused by his illness and the drugs, he wrote PERSONA. Alice shared that at the beginning of his manuscript, it says, “I don’t know what I have written, play with it.”
In the film, one starts to experience shifted states of consciousness. In fact, Alice felt that at certain point, Sister Alma seems to be astral projecting, almost as if she had an out of body experience. “This marks a pivotal moment in the middle of the manuscript, where it’s as if you shift into a different dimension,” explained Alice, “this is when sister Alma genuinely begins not to know whether she is Elizabeth or Alma; the two characters in the manuscript really fuse, and by the end, they are speaking each other’s lines. It’s almost as if these two women, provoked by the silence, tear each other apart.”
I haven’t had the chance to see the film script of course but Alice has, and she said that those altered states of consciousness don’t show as markedly in the film script; and what happens between Alma and Elizabet in the manuscript is not what happens between them in the film. “Here, sister Alma is back in uniform, back to normal,” described Alice, “but in the manuscript she is coming apart; and at the very end, Elizabet goes back and Alma is left in the house. She says, “I come here and learnings in loneliness every day, trying to write a letter I know it will never be written.” Then she tries to make sense of a reality that has completely shifted. Elizabet’s pain has been transferred to Alma.”
Paul Schoolman’s version of PERSONA goes back to the original manuscript. “We followed the manuscript faithfully rather than trying to recreate the film,” Alice said proudly, “ there would be no point in doing that. The film is a masterpiece as it is.” Bergman used music a great deal, so in this production, Paul and Alice asked his friend William Close, a very talented installation artist, musician and composer to work with them. Alice is a big fan of his: “He is an extraordinary musician and builds his own instruments.
His signature instrument is the earth harp. So in the play, the base of the harp will be on stage with the strings fanning over the audience and Wiliam’s and the earth’s harp will be the fourth voice. The voice of the harp will shift from scene to scene. Hopefully it will work.”
PERSONA Presented by Persona Onstage by arrangement with Josef Weinberger Plays Limited, London on behalf of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation. 21 january – 23 February 2020 Riverside Studios London. Tickets: from £12.50 Concessions Seniors/Unwaged/Disabled Box office: 0208 237 1010
The London Art Fair is so much more than your usual Art Fair. With five separate areas it gives an opportunity for everyone to explore their own art appreciation.
This incredible show brings together some of the best galleries in the world, allowing the general public and collectors alike to enjoy the work of some of the most celebrated artists of our time and discover new talent. One could say that the London Art Fair is a journey of discovery. The Fair also provides educational tours, talks, an screening programme and expert curated sessions.
In 2020, we will have over 100 galleries from around the world. Among them new galleries like Art Blue Studio from Singapore, Tamar Dresdner Art Projects from Israel and Cork Print Maker from Ireland. Art Projects returns offering a platform for emerging galleries to showcase contemporary art from across the globe. Now in its 16th edition, the section will bring together artists working across a broad range of media, including digital art, video, photography, textiles and paintings.
First launched in 2019, Platform returns, a section which focuses on a single theme or discipline. This year, Platform will present artists who use textiles as their medium, giving visitors the chance discover how stunning and versatile medium textiles can be.
Photo50 latest edition title “Occupy the Void” curated by writer, collector and gallerist Laura Noble explores the vast pool of talented female photographers over 50. This year Photo50 will bring us the works of 10 photography artists.
Not to be missed though are the five ceramic works by Grayson Perry shown by Castlegate House Gallery. Also exhibiting at Castlegate is a recent oil painting of David Landau by Frank Auberbach, as well as an important unrecorded 1967 portrait by John Bellany. Fredrick Charles Art and Alan Wheatley Art are both exhibiting work by Alan Davie. The Scottish Gallery is presenting a solo exhibition by Pat Douthwaite, a modernist art who works in various media.
London Art Fair’s specialism in Modern British art continues to be strongly represented and received through the participation of some of the UK and global leading galleries in the field. 22-26 January 2020
Business Design Centre 52 Upper Street, Islington London N1 0QH Tickets £22, £17 in advance. Full ticket types and prices at: londonartfair.co.uk/tickets
Milan’s Palazzo Reale is the host, through to the end of February, of a jewellery exhibition that places Van Cleef & Arpels at the pinnacle of the business. Determining strategy for a jewellery maison is a game of priorities and compromises: heritage needs to be balanced against the urgency of Instagram, volume against value and margins against authenticity.
It’s hard to pursue mass sales and at the same time convince haute joiaillerie clients of your brand’s exclusivity and dedication to the highest craft standards. Few succeed. Van Cleef & Arpels are one such and its secret is to keep a direct line open to its heritage and place its contemporary offerings always within the context of its past.
Other maisons have longer and more illustrious histories but Van Cleef’s approach is unique for the manner in which it engages with the past as a living partner to be questioned and probed as much as valued and respected. This attitude shines through the Palazzo Reale exhibition in Milan. Titled “Time, Nature, Love”, the show balances academic rigour with an artistic vision through curation by Alba Cappellieri, Professor of Jewellery Design at Milan Polytechnic University, and a scenography created by American designer Johanna Grawunder.
Minaudiere a volutes (1935_1971).
Cappallieri’s selection is far more than an historical survey; instead she looks at themes, such as Paris and the different exoticisms that captured art movements during the last century and intersections between art, literature, architecture and jewellery. The title refers to the way Capallieri has organised the show so that the shifting accent of different periods and perennial Van Cleef & Arpels themes such as flowers, birds and love can be seen and she adds a layer of intrigue by using the values (Lightness, Quickness, Exactitude, Visibility, Multiplicity) cited by Italo Calvino in his Harvard lecture cycle, “Six Memos for the Next Millennium”.
The effect is breath-taking as the show not only presents some of the 20th century’s most captivating jewellery but also depicts the context behind the designs. There are plenty of fabulous jewels to amaze but it’s the vision and thought behind the designs that make the exhibition. Sometimes it’s wildly avant-garde, as with the Zip Necklace that married what was a merely functional invention with pure craft excellence (apparently following a request by the Duchess of Windsor); elsewhere it’s the exoticism of a 1971 commission from the Aga Khan that brings together engraved emeralds and bold design very much of its epoch; or the romanticism of the 1941 Spirit of Beauty fairy clip made for Barbara Hutton, which is all about light and movement as well as the carefully controlled whimsy that’s a hallmark of Van Cleef’s house style.
Necklace that can become a bracelet (1951-1971).
There’s a noticeable shift in emphasis and flavour between the different eras represented in the exhibition as, for example, the Art Deco geometry of the 1928 collaret with its interlocking rings and triangles, which gives way to more consciously romantic designs such as the Peony Clip from 1937, one of the stars of the show with its 100 carats of mystery-set rubies, or the Ballerina clip from 1945, which captures the colour and movement of a Flamenco ‘Bailaora’ in rubies, sapphires and yellow gold.
With so many exhibits, some 400 in all, the value of a curation that uses intersecting themes becomes clearer the further you get into the show as the pace and mood of each room evolves enough to keep the interest piqued as well as providing space for some of the more curious creations. There’s a particularly good selection of the minaudières compartment boxes that Charles Arpels developed in the 1930s: Arpels had seen an American socialite carry her powder, lipstick and lighter around in a cigarette tin and the resulting cases just happened to be the perfect canvas for a jewellery designer.
Romeo (right) and Juliette (left) brooches (1951-1971).
If there’s one facet to Van Cleef & Arpels that sets the maison apart, it’s the ability to handle romantic whimsy without losing control, quite frequently using fairies, butterflies and flowers to hide clever and daring design as in the Romeo and Juliet brooches from the early 1950s that are both straightforwardly cute and almost radically simplistic in form. Time, Nature, Love is the antidote to jewellery exhibitions that merely seek to dazzle or (as is more common) look to hide the glamour under a veneer of academic rigour. It dazzles, it charms and asks some intriguing questions.
Presented by the Palazzo Reale and the Comune di Milano, the show runs until February 23rd at the Palazzo Reale, Piazza Duomo 12, Milan.
From the introduction, Nick Foulkes’s enticing choice of words seduces the reader to explore this book with excitement and anticipation, somehow letting us realise that we are in for a treat. Divided into 28 stories, Foulkes takes us into a journey that illustrates mankind’s obsession with the concept of time, from the Paleolithic, through ancient Egyptian water clocks all the way to the wristwatch taken to the moon.
You can dip in and out and read a story or two at a time, but my personal suggestion is that you sit by the fire, Armagnac in hand and immerse yourself in this beautifully crafted narration of how our species has attempted to tame time from as long as we have walked the Earth. Foulkes’s fascination with watches transpires in every page. His love for the mechanical intricacies and the magic encapsulated into such a tiny space is infectious. However, this is not a geeky book for collectors or watch maniacs; and if you feel a bit confused by any of the lingo, an extensive glossary at the end will help you sound like an expert by the time you finish reading.
As Foulkes reminds us, watches and clocks are travellers from another time. For the modern mind, understanding life without understanding time may seem impossible, such is our dependency on this arbitrary concept that has turned up to define the Universe as much as space does. Foulkes combines academic levels of knowledge with heart-felt sentiment and touches of his very personal humour to guide us through this incredible journey of human ingenuity.
‘American Polymath’ from Time Tamed.
The Karnak Clepsydra (water thief), the world’s first accurate time piece, the Julian calendar (Julius Caesar) -which is pretty much the one we use today, are just two examples of the moments in history selected by the author to help us understand the initial enormity of a task that now we all take for granted. Foulkes’s extensive research brings readers the surprise of including the Su Song’s clock, now recognized as the “missing link” between the purely hydraulic clepsydra and the all-mechanical escapement clock.
Another wonderful surprise is the inclusion of the timepieces developed in Japan’s Edo period (17th century) which met the complex and fluctuating nature of time as understood by this country during that time, called the Wadokei. These timepieces used the lunar calendar and were completely unique to Japan. Clocks were wound and set at the beginning of the Japanese day, which commenced at dusk. Significantly, the temporal day did not begin at a set time, such as midnight, but when daylight ended. Dictated by sunrise and sunset, each day was divided into day and night, each comprising six periods of time known as koku. These koku varied in duration, with seasonal changes in the length of day and night. This “easy” way of measuring time lasted until the 1860s, when the Meiji period embarked Japan into a vertiginous process of modernization.
I found particularly absorbing Foulkes’s tales of automata that go back to the most obscure centuries of the Middle Ages. As the Renaissance approached, ever more ambitious and elaborate clocks combining the time of day with astronomical and astrological displays as well as automata became urban status symbols, at a time when city-states shone brighter than ever before or after. The Marvel of Strasbourg (a mechanical cock that crowed) was possibly one of the most famous in Europe. It wasn’t until the late 15th century that watches started being worn as accessories. They developed from spring-driven clocks, which were more compact than weight-driven clocks. However, they were terribly inaccurate and worn by the trendsetters of the late Renaissance as a kind of fashion statement, to be seen as different (sounds familiar?).
‘The Twilight of Antiquity’ from Time Tamed.
Peter Henlein is considered the inventor of the watch, first with his Nuremberg egg watch and later, his Pomander. Henlein was immortalized by one of Goebbel’s favourite film makers, Veit Harlan, in his 1939 movie, The Immortal Heart. Other fascinating stories unveiled in the pages of Time Tamed include the discovery of the star of the Cheapside Hoard, – a pocket watch installed within a large Colombian emerald dating from around 1600 and that was lost for 250 years under a pile of rubble. Equally intriguing is the story of Mrs Belville, who used to go around London “giving” accurate time with her pocket watch Arnold (named after its inventor), up until 1940.
Of course Foulkes hasn’t forgotten a chapter devoted to the Big Ben, possibly the most famous clock in the world nor has he ignored the most iconic wristwatches of our time, like the Cartier Santos, which Louis Cartier created for his intrepid aeronaut friend Santos-Dumont in 1904, considered the first men’s wristwatch, or the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso, the first Sports watch. Many other watches have claims to the podium of fame, not least the Omega Speedmaster. No other piece of equipment – let alone a watch – can claim to have been used during the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Soyuz, Salyut, Space Shuttle, MIR and International Space Station programmes. The Speedmaster contributed to one lunar mission in particular: the Apollo 13. The mission was aborted after an explosion on the outward journey damaged the spacecraft and forced the crew to seek refuge in the Lunar Module. After going once round the moon, they headed back to Earth with the command module, using the Speedmaster to time the crucial engine firing necessary for their safe return. Whether you are a watch aficionado or just a curious reader, I strongly recommend you get yourself a copy of Time Tamed and enjoy this thoroughly entertaining story of time by one of the most knowledgeable writers in our profession.
About the author: Nick Foulkes is the author of more than two dozen works of non-fiction and is widely considered the leading English language writer on watches and timepieces. His most recent book was Patek Philippe: The Authorised Biography. He has written on the subject for numerous newspapers and magazines, including The Times, Financial Times, Newsweek and GQ, and he edits On Time, the twice yearly magazine on watches for Vanity Fair.
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