Cover Asia’s penchant for jewellery isn’t slowing down and L’École, School of Jewelry Arts is ready to fuel that interest (Photo: Affa Chan/Tatler Hong kong)
Asia’s penchant for jewellery isn’t slowing down and L’École, School of Jewelry Arts is ready to fuel that interest (Photo: Affa Chan/Tatler Hong kong)
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Managing director Élise Gonnet-Pon shares what to expect from L’École Asia Pacific this year
Introduced in 2012 in Paris by French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts has a simple purpose. “We have a very beautiful mission, which is to offer everyone the opportunity to learn about and appreciate jewellery in a welcoming, engaging environment”, says Élise Gonnet-Pon, managing director of L’École Asia Pacific, the school’s Hong Kong campus.
Its first permanent overseas outpost offers 23 courses across three categories: Savoir-faire, the Art History of Jewellery and the World of Gemstones. But it extends its reach through expert-led conversations, exhibitions, educational partnerships and publications. The school’s first book, The Art of the Jeweler, is a visually driven homage to the craftsmanship of jewellery; while the school awards scholarships in partnership with the Hong Kong Design Institute to students pursuing jewellery design, and hosts talks with local jewellers and historians.
Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto was tasked with designing the modern space, highlighting its unparalleled harbour views from inside the workshops. To ensure maximum engagement with local audiences, all courses and exhibition tours are offered in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. Clearly, it’s a winning formula. Since 2019, L’École Asia Pacific has welcomed more than 29,000 visitors, including 6,000 students on more than 700 courses.
L’École design studio (Photo: courtesy of L’École / Van Cleef & Arpels / Kevin Mak / Sou Fujimoto Architects)
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The Hong Kong campus opened in 2019—fuelled by the city’s deep-rooted jewellery culture and the success of L’École pop-ups in the city. “There’s a real curiosity about jewellery in Hong Kong, and with the K11 Musea location, the stars were perfectly aligned,” says Gonnet-Pon. Though that alignment hasn’t been quite so fortuitous. Thus far, the school has mainly had to operate within Hong Kong’s pandemic-enforced constraints, but with the lifting of local restrictions, 2023 is shaping up to be a banner year.
Having resumed full capacity for its courses and conversations, it will launch a new exhibition dedicated to the late American jeweller Daniel Brush in May. It is also debuting a new class, Diamond Grading, where students will go beyond the “four Cs” of diamonds and learn how an official grading certificate is put together.
Further afield, the curious can attend global jewellery exhibitions: Gold and Treasures: 3,000 Years of Chinese Ornaments at the Parisian school until April 14, and Birds in Paradise, a presentation of historic jewels rendered in bird motifs, at the Tokyo JP Tower Museum until May 7.
Something else to look out for: the opening of a third permanent L’École in Shanghai later this year. Asia’s penchant for jewellery isn’t slowing down and L’École, School of Jewelry Arts is ready to fuel that interest.
Find out more here.
