The Hands
Behind the Jewels

I chose this film to bring the sculptural side of Cellini’s achievement into the conversation. Looking at Perseus helps me think about how a goldsmith’s attention to detail can operate on the scale of a bronze figure. This is an art-history discussion, rather than a workshop demonstration.

I am looking towards René Lalique for the way jewellery can carry an imaginative, sculptural presence. In this museum film, curator Luísa Sampaio introduces his work. I want viewers to consider the relationship between the figure, the materials and the expression of the whole object.

I selected this making film because the character of a precious-metal surface matters to me. It gives the close attention behind Buccellati’s goldwork a place beside my own macro studies, where texture, edges and small transitions become part of the visual experience.

This conversation with Cartier’s master engraver and stone sculptor Philippe Nicolas, alongside Olivier Segura, brings the intelligence of stone carving into focus. I chose it to explore how a maker responds to a material’s possibilities and resistance, and how engraving and sculpture give a stone another dimension.

I want this selection to draw attention to the skill behind the apparent continuity of a jewelled surface. The Mystery Set specialist makes precision central to the discussion. It connects with my interest in how settings support the stones while allowing their colour and arrangement to lead the eye.

I chose the polisher’s role because finishing changes how an object meets the light. In developing The Sovereign Within, I kept returning to the balance between glare, smoothness and depth. This film gives attention to the hands responsible for that final surface in physical jewellery.