STYLE Edit: L’École School of Jewelry Arts and Van Cleef & Arpels offer fascinating look at high jewellery world
After hosting a series of successful pop-up programmes in Hong Kong over the past five years, the L’École School of Jewelry Arts has returned to the city with its second international campus outside Paris. Supported by French jewellery maison Van Cleef & Arpels, the travelling school offers aficionados a fascinating insight into its world of high jewellery through educational courses, talks and exhibitions.
Why L’École School of Jewelry Arts is opening a Hong Kong campus
Pandering to growing interest from collectors and jewellery enthusiasts, L’École’s new campus at K11 Musea in Hong Kong offers more than 20 courses and workshops in areas such as savoir faire, art history of jewellery, and the universe of gemstones. The year-round cultural and educational activities will begin with a “Precious Art Deco Objects” exhibition this month. Curated by Nicolas Luchsinger, the president of Van Cleef & Arpels, Asia-Pacific, and director of the maison’s heritage collection, this exhibition features close to 50 masterpieces from the private collection of the late Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan.
Known for his extremely fine taste and passion for precious collectibles from the art deco period, the prince bought over 100 art deco boxes, including cigarette cases and powder compacts, for his wife in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of these masterpieces have been brought to Asia for the first time as part of “Precious Art Deco Objects”.
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“Crafted in gold and enriched with ornamental or precious stones and adorned with mother-of-pearl, lacquer or translucent enamel, these exceptional art deco objects which have Chinese, Japanese, Persian and European influences, also show how global cultures inspired the movement,” Luchsinger says. The public exhibition is free and will be on until February 9, 2020, and will be supported by guided tours in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
More than 30,000 people have attended L’École courses over the past few years, and its exhibitions have attracted 32,000 visitors from across the world. “We cannot wait to welcome everyone to join us at L’École Asia-Pacific and offer people around the region the chance to explore the once-secret world of jewellery arts by learning about the savoir faire behind jewellery-making techniques, the world of precious stones, and the art history of jewellery,” says Élise Gonnet-Pon, managing director, L’École Asia-Pacific, School of Jewelry Arts. “Our first classes are available on an à la carte basis, and suitable for students of all backgrounds. No prerequisite of education or skills is needed, only curiosity.”
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Hong Kong became the school’s second permanent location after Paris when the campus at K11 Musea opened