Experience the hidden world of ruby & sapphire in this exhibition with Lotus Gemology and Van Cleef & Arpels' L'École School of Jewelry Arts
Discover the Gemstones: Ruby & Sapphire
Lotus Gemology and Van Cleef & Arpels' LÉCOLE Asia Pacific, School of Jewelry Arts have teamed up to co-curate an exhibtion that's all about ruby and sapphire.
Embark on a journey with two of the most coveted precious gemstones, ruby and sapphire. You'll first travel instide the gemstones to discover the inner beauty that nature creates through the photomicrography of Lotus Gemology's E. Billie Hughes, a gemologist and award-winning photographer. Her images blend art and science, capturing the microscopic "birthmarks" of gemstones, their inclusions.
Then explore ruby and sapphire as they are first unearthed, before any human intervention, through the exquisite minerals in their natural geological forms, from . The various colors demonstrate the rainbow palette that ruby and sapphire, both varieties of the mineral corundum, can display.
Alongside the minerals are high jewelry creations from Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Carnet, Harry Winston, and more. These showcase the skill of the lapidary and the art of crafting jewelry.
Visitors are also invited to try hands-on gemology and can view inclusions through the microscope, plunging into the fascinating microworld of rubies and sapphires.
Iridescent fissures around small crystals create a floral motif in this heated sapphire. This is one among many of Lotus Gemology's photomicrographs that appear in the Discover the Gemstones: Ruby & Sapphire exhibition at LÉCOLE Asia Pacific, School of Jewelry Arts. Photo: E. Billie Hughes/ Lotus Gemology
When
June 10, 2020–October 26, 2020
13:00–19:00 (Mon–Sun)
Where
LÉCOLE Asia Pacific, School of Jewelry Arts
Unit 510 A, 5F
K11 MUSEA, Victoria Dockside
18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Free admission with free guided tours on the hour.
As Featured In
Images of gems captured using photomicrography – photographed under a microscope by co-curator and gemmologist Billie Hughes – are also on display. Bangkok-based Hughes has gems in her DNA; her parents are gemmologists and she visited her first gem mine aged two. Her photographs delve deep into the stones, playing with light, the results ranging from calming to psychedelic – check the jellyfish-like formations in Hughes’ image of a sapphire, Blue Bell Blossoms.
The interactive exhibition features intriguing photomicrographic images taken by Hughes, which show the rainbow-like halos in the Burmese ruby, frosty snowball like crystals in the Madagascar sapphire, and the star-like patterns glowing from within the trapiche ruby. Through these images visitors can explore the microscopic depths of the gemstones, and be drawn into their secret inner life.
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