Canadian architect Sanjit Manku (pictured top left with Patrick Jouin, his partner at design studio Jouin Manku).

Gems and jewels are beautiful on their own, but when you place hundreds of them together in an exhibition, the sight can be a fine line between stunning and overwhelming. To avoid the latter, jewellery houses such as Van Cleef & Arpels, which will hold its largest heritage exhibition The Art and Science of Gems in Singapore at the ArtScience Museum from April 23 to August 14, approach experts like Canadian architect Sanjit Manku of design studio Jouin Manku to design the scenography and set the sparkle.
Having worked on several of its projects before, Manku has developed a close relationship with the French maison. He has visited its Paris atelier, where he developed a deeper understanding and respect for the art and history of jewellery. “It’s really quite extraordinary because it’s something that humans have been doing from the beginning of time, this thing of marking an important occasion, with something bespoke as a gift.”

Co-curated with the ArtScience Museum, the exhibition spans over a century of history and showcases more than 400 creations displayed across seven defining themes: couture, abstractions, influences, precious objects, nature, ballerinas and fairies, and icons from Van Cleef & Arpel’s archives as well as those on loan from private collectors around the world. It will also feature 250 minerals from the French National Museum of Natural History collection. As its name suggests, the exhibition will not only highlight stunning jewellery but also the transformation of Earth’s minerals into precious gems in the hands of the maison’s artisans.
With Van Cleef & Arpels: The Art and Science of Gems, Manku hopes to create a strong atmosphere for the jewels to leave a lasting impression on visitors. “You’ve got one time to express yourself so you can’t do something that has no voice,” says Manku. “It has to be something that people will remember for years and years and years.” He tells us more.

HOW DID YOU SET OUT TO BRING OUT THE ELEMENTS OF ART AND SCIENCE IN THIS EXHIBITION?
While Jouin Manku studio has done a number of exhibitions with Van Cleef & Arpels, what’s beautiful about this one is the desire of the maison and the ArtScience Museum to add another aspect—the idea of geology. We see the pieces in their raw form and there’s a real magic to them. Then later on, we see how the raw pieces are being transformed into something incredibly poetic. And the gap between those two is the history of the craftspeople and the maison.
Sometimes, when you’re looking at the jewellery pieces you are swept away by the artistry of the craftsmen. You forget about the life of the jewels. With this exhibition, we get to dive in and find out how magical a diamond is. So we get a different appreciation that we’ve never been able to show in any other exhibition that we’ve done for Van Cleef & Arpels.

HOW DID YOU PLAN A PRESENTATION THAT RESPECTS HISTORY AND HERITAGE, WHILE AVOIDING STATIC “MUSEUM-LIKE” SETTINGS?
I think it’s part of the culture of Van Cleef & Arpels; a lot of the pieces are inspired by nature. Because there’s this strong culture of creativity and a world that’s marvellous and mysterious, our job is to try to be an ambassador to the creative spirit. How do we give it an environment where people can appreciate the greater philosophy of the world of Van Cleef & Arpels?
The world of jewellery is not a logical or right-brained kind of world. It’s still very emotive even though we’re talking about science and art. What we’re trying to do is to create emotional spaces so people feel like they’re walking into this enchanted world. It’s not just about showing the jewellery, it’s about creating the right atmosphere. It’s the atmosphere of Van Cleef & Arpels.

THERE ARE SEVEN DEFINING THEMES. WAS THIS A CHALLENGE?
It’s tough but what’s really nice is we’re all working as a team. We have the curators, designers, and Van Cleef & Arpels heritage director Catherine Cariou who knows the jewels intimately and decides the groupings. So what’s really important is you let each expert do what they do best. Sometimes you’re working on a theme that’s a bit nebulous, you’re not exactly sure what the pieces are going to be. And then as things develop over time, it becomes increasingly clear and you adapt and change. It’s really a collaboration that goes back and forth.

SCENOGRAPHY IS AKIN TO SETTING THE STAGE FOR A THEATRE PRODUCTION. WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS? 
The most important is what kind of story you want to tell. You try to work with the space and what you want to show. Then you try to connect these two things with a story. That story is this atmosphere. And then you have to work with the space, because you can never go against the nature of a space. That’s suicide. Better to work with it. When we do architecture or interior design projects, we’re making charged spaces. When we’re doing scenography, it’s 100 per cent pure atmosphere.

IS THERE A METHOD YOU ALWAYS FOLLOW WHEN DESIGNING SCENOGRAPHY?
Yes, there’s always this thing of sequences. For example, when you walk into a restaurant you have a certain emotion. So what happens is before you’ve eaten anything, people who are making spaces, we are the introduction, the amuse-bouche. If we create a space that is clinical with really bright cold lighting and the chef is trying to give you something that’s sensual, the two are going to clash and you’re not going to be in a right frame of mind to appreciate it. With scenography, you’re already working in sequences. And like any type of story, you’re trying to figure out how you build up the story. What’s the crescendo? It can’t always be the same. You need to surprise them. So it’s fun. It’s really storytelling from when we were kids.