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Photo: Van Cleef & Arpels
For gem lovers, no amount of online research or boutique visits can replace the scope and experience that an educational exhibition offers. As top-quality rubies are becoming increasingly rarer and pricier, the opportunity to see a spectacular selection of them up-close is also hard to come by.
That’s why Ruby, Discover The Gemstones is a show not to be missed. From now until Oct 20, the exhibition presented by L’Ecole Asia Pacific, School of Jewelry Arts, takes visitors on an extraordinary journey to observe the red gem, which has captured humanity’s imagination for centuries.
From left: Ruby on marble from Burma, and a cluster of rubies from Greenland (Photos: Ronnakorn Manorotkul/Lotus Gemology)
Apart from being one of the Big Four of precious stones, with the others being diamonds, blue sapphires, and emeralds, the ruby is singular in the fact that it is a corundum, the same mineral as the sapphire, but gains its vibrant red hue from the presence of chromium within its crystalline composition. In fact, it is named after the Latin word “ruber”, meaning red.
At the exhibition, held at the hidden space of Les Jardins Secrets ensconced within a Van Cleef & Arpels boutique in Raffles Hotel Singapore, one gets the chance to explore the ruby in its natural state from the depths of the earth, to its final incarnation thanks to the genius of craftsmen and designers.
Two high jewellery creations featuring rubies secured in place through Van Cleef & Arpels’ signature Mystery Set technique (Photo: Van Cleef & Arpels)
This showcase flaunts more than 20 exhibits that span rough mineral specimens from mines around the world, even as far and unexpected as Greenland, to archival documents and a selection of magnificent high jewellery creations and loans from private collectors.
There are also interactive stations where visitors can examine a ruby through a microscope, try their hand at taking close-up shots to take home, and discover the magic of Van Cleef & Arpels’ innovative Mystery Set technique.
A small melted crystal and associated thin film inclusion dazzle with colour when lit with fibre optic illumination on a Thai/Cambodian ruby (Photo: E. Billie Hughes/Lotus Gemology)
Lining the walls are fascinating images taken by Billie Hughes, award-winning photomicrographer and gemologist at Lotus Gemology, that reveal the varied nature of rubies’ natural inclusions.
The first of L’Ecole’s Discover The Gemstones series of exhibitions, this Ruby edition is one of several to come that illuminate the links between the world of gemstones and jewellery arts. While the show is open daily from noon to 7pm, registration is required. And don’t forget to watch this space for Van Cleef & Arpels’ next public show.
