William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery
Jewellery is currently enjoying the status of a diva on the stage of the global fashion business. Jewellery and watches are the new handbag - that's the industry's new mantra. The freshly (24 May) opened new Jewellery Gallery of the London V&A Museum could also be considered as a sort of symbolic tribute to the renaissance of the desirability of all sorts of jewellery and ornaments - a four-year project brought to reality and completed thanks to investors Judith and William Bollinger who have put into setting up the new gallery over 13.6 million dollars. The two-storey gallery (the floors are connected by a spiral glass staircase) with its black matte floor, glass cabinets which make the exhibits easy to examine from every angle, and the special lighting is custom-made to showcase the embodiment of the greatest beauty and the wildest passions of all times, namely, jewellery. The jewellery collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum is one of the largest in the world: the over 3000 exhibits displayed at the new gallery tell the story of the treasures of European jewellery-making, from Ancient Greece to the present day, from gold Celtic breastplates to medieval love rings and pendants given by Queen Elizabeth I to her courtiers, from the diamond ornaments made especially for Catherine the Great's dresses to masterpieces produced by the world's leading jewellery companies. The factual and also the emotional background for the display is created by video stories dedicated to the greatest mysteries and myths of the industry - stories of precious stone mining, the creation of jewellery, its symbolism and the various ways it has been interpreted in the course of centuries. The display is proof to the fact that jewellery, like clothing, has always been closely linked with the times, social movements, current styles and materials available at the time of its creation. The existing collection owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum was recently expanded by unique objects from Lalique, as well as jewellery by Tiffany and Cartier from the private collection of the New York collector Patricia V. Goldstein. A special place is reserved for the 1960s when jewellery, just like clothing fashion, was strongly influenced by futurism and experimenting with materials previously neglected by the industry - and, of course, for the current moment when the most fantastic hi-tech materials hold their own alongside more traditional options and the design often dominates over the materials.
Cromwell Road
www.vam.ac.uk
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