{"id":50439,"date":"2024-04-15T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T05:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/?post_type=articles&p=250861"},"modified":"2024-04-15T09:30:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T05:30:55","slug":"tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiffany Takes Tokyo: Inside The Sparkly Opening Of The Tiffany & Co. \u201cTiffany Wonder\u201d Exhibition In Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo\"
TOKYO, JAPAN – APRIL 11: Olivia Wilde attends the opening\u00a0 of Tiffany & Co.’s ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition at the TOKYO NODE gallery on April 11, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi\/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOKYO, JAPAN: French jewellery designer Jean Schlumberger<\/a>\u2019s iconic Bird, of Bird On A Rock<\/a> fame, has flown 10,000+ kilometres from New York City to Tokyo to roost atop\u2014for the second time\u2014its most prized perch to date: the esteemed 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond. The latter, the world\u2019s largest and most celebrated yellow diamond and the true cornerstone of the House, concludes the new, inimitable Tiffany Wonder<\/em> exhibition<\/a> in Japan’s capital\u2014an immersive treasure trove filled to its pale blue brim with nearly 500 of the luxuriate\u2019s design masterworks.<\/p>\n

In the third room of 10\u2014an ode to Schlumberger\u2019s whimsy and wit\u2014an array of Bird On A Rock brooches glisten behind their squeaky clean vitrines: amethyst, tanzanite, aquamarine, citrine, spessartine, the gang\u2019s all here. But it\u2019s the gold, platinum and diamond bird with the ruby eyes that captures your attention. The one attached to a deep, cobalt blue piece of lapis lazuli\u2014an ancient gem that is quite literally a rock. For this is the first Bird On A Rock brooch ever designed, a piece Schlumberger gifted to his friend, taste-making American socialite and horticulturalist Bunny Mellon, in 1965. Little did the designer know at the time, the brooch would go on to become one of the great icons of 20th <\/sup>century design.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m obsessed with it,\u201d remarks Tiffany & Co.\u2019s President and Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Ledru, over tea and sweet treats with GRAZIA. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s the ultimate symbol of Tiffany. Why? It\u2019s Tiffany at its best.<\/em> It\u2019s Tiffany from the 60s. It\u2019s the Kennedy\u2019s, it\u2019s the glorious years of Tiffany when Schlumberger was amongst all the socialites. There was Bunny Mellon, Jackie Kennedy and Diana Vreeland. That brooch is the combination of exceptionalism and creativity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the bird is fun!\u201d he continues. \u201cIt\u2019s surreal. It\u2019s a fantastical world, this world of Schlumberger.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Inside the Tiffany & Co. ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Credit: Courtesy of Tiffany & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Five birds with one stone. The 128.54-carat Tiffany Diamond inside the Tiffany & Co. ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Credit: Courtesy of Tiffany & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe bird instantly turns the gemstone into a piece of high jewellery,\u201d Tiffany & Co.\u2019s Chief Gemologist, Victoria Reynolds<\/a>, notes as she walks press through the exhibition. \u201cEvery position of the bird is slightly different to [the next brooch, to add] a little bit of tension which was very important to Schlumberger. He used to call it \u2018nature\u2019s verb.\u2019 He didn\u2019t like anything to be asymmetrical, he liked having things a bit off balance\u2014because nature is off balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

WONDERS IN THE WINDOW<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Interestingly Schlumberger began working at the Maison in 1956, a year after American window dresser Gene Moore started defining Tiffany & Co.\u2019s now famous \u2018aspirational window\u2019 aesthetic. Highly imaginative and reflective of the dynamism of nature, Schlumberger was indeed ushering in a new chapter for jewellery design, but he needed someone like Moore\u2014who, too, had humour\u2014to help translate his surrealist world to the average New Yorker passing by the Tiffany & Co. windows on Fifth Avenue.<\/p>\n

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Inside the Tiffany & Co. ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Credit: Courtesy of Tiffany & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A large room inside the exhibition is dedicated to Moore\u2019s wonderous windowscapes. And it’s incredible. Across the years, the dresser\u2019s artistic innovation and delightful creativity enabled him to dream up arresting settings for the extraordinary jewels on display.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Schlumberger revolutionised Tiffany because he defined the modern style of high jewellery,\u201d says Ledru. \u201cBut Gene Moore revolutionised his industry as well. There were literally lines of clients waiting for the change of windows. [The windows] were static before [and under him], they became movie theatres. He was a showman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the one message the chairman at that time, [Walter Hoving] gave Gene Moore was, \u2018Don\u2019t worry about the setting, we will take care of that inside the store. Just do the dream.\u2019 And every window, all 5000 of them, is a dream. It\u2019s authentic. It\u2019s Tiffany-esque. It\u2019s Tiffany only.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo\"
TOKYO, JAPAN – APRIL 11: Pharrell Williams and Ros\u00e9 attend Tiffany & Co.’s opening celebration for the House’s ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition at the TOKYO NODE gallery on April 11, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Hanna Lassen\/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo\"
TOKYO, JAPAN – APRIL 11: Alexandre Arnault (L), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (C), and Pharrell Williams (R) attends Tiffany & Co.’s opening celebration for the House’s ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition at the TOKYO NODE gallery on April 11, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Graham Denholm\/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

FROM NEW YORK TO TOKYO<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cI first visited Asia in 2011. I went to Shanghai for a week and was completely jetlagged and couldn\u2019t do the meetings,\u201d Ledru recalls. \u201cThen I came to Japan and the [culture] shock was huge. I\u2019d never seen a country where respect is valued at such a high level. In Japan, you put the individual in front of you way before yourself. You have a respect and a refinement that is beyond attention to detail and that\u2019s why I think they are one of the largest clientele for luxury in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

While its all well and good for the House to hold an exhibition in a foreign city, what many people may not realise is Tiffany & Co.\u2019s relationship with Japan indeed dates back to the 1830s when the Maison’s founding father Charles Lewis Tiffany began offering his American clients select imported Japanese goods, and even placed them in his shop windows to catch the eye of the New Yorker who was looking for something new. In 1868, another of the house’s designers, Edward C. Moore, began collecting a lot of silverware creations from Japan. And most notably,\u00a0 in 1969, renegade designer Elsa Peretti visited Japan, and aside from marvelling at the speed of the bullet train travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto\u2014today, it travels at speeds of 285 kilometres per hour and above\u2014Peretti was extremely taken by the Japanese craftsmanship surrounding silk, lacquer, bamboo and wood. According to Tiffany & Co.’s Creative Director for Visual Merchandising, Christopher Young, Peretti \u201cwas not inspired bv designs in Japan, she was inspired by materials.\u201d And she reinterpreted these into objects of fashion, as seen in a room Ledru calls \u201cthe most impactful of the exhibition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a room dedicated to Japan…and it speaks to the heart,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cTiffany\u2019s relationship with Japan is authentic. It\u2019s not a stretch. It\u2019s not \u2018Oh, we found a piece of archive\u2019\u2014no. It\u2019s real,\u201d Ledru continues. \u201cYou can\u2019t lie in any place in the world, but in Japan, you certainly cannot. They grew up with luxury, they created the luxury business in the 80s so you cannot make it up to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor Lewis Comfort Tiffany, [he saw inspiration] was in Japanese wisteria, the blue vine, which is a symbol in Japan of immortality and love. The Tiffany lamps\u2014the ones with the dragonfly on them\u2013are worth more than one million dollars, and unfortunately we know that because we are paying for them back and they are a lot of money, but we cannot resist,\u201d he adds. \u201cEach time, [Tiffany & Co. Executive Vice President for Product and Communications] Alexandre Arnault will say, \u2018Another one?\u2019 and we go ,\u2018Yes, but we don\u2019t have that one.\u2019 He called me one day and he said, \u2018It\u2019s quite expensive, these lamps.\u2019 I say, \u2018They\u2019re unique!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo\"
TOKYO, JAPAN – APRIL 11: Olivia Wilde attends the opening\u00a0 of Tiffany & Co.’s ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition at the TOKYO NODE gallery on April 11, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi\/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TO EXHIBITION AND BEYOND<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Some of you may recall Schlumberger\u2019s Tiffany Bird receiving the digitised treatment at the reopening of Tiffany & Co.\u2019s iconic Fifth Avenue boutique, Landmark <\/a>in September of 2023. Like Schlumberger’s aquatic creatures swimming about the Tokyo exhibition, the digital Bird was spotted flying about the arched windows of the Manhattan flagship. As celebrity guests arrived through the revolving doors at the boutique’s entrance that evening, their gazes would follow the bird before being greeted by Ledru.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe faces of the visitors were turning from [a gasping face] to a smiling one as they walked in\u2014which is what you want,\u201d says Ledru. \u201cIt was a big event. I\u2019d never done something of that magnitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLandmark was the largest investment made by LVMH ever, and therefore by Tiffany,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt\u2019s a an icon and a lighthouse for New Yorkers and for the world. I mean, if you live in New York, you\u2019ve been to that store once in your life. If you\u2019re visiting, it\u2019s one of the top three or four attractions [in the city], it competes with the Statute Of Liberty in terms of visitors. We\u2019ve had days of 15,000 visitors in December 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where the bird will fly to next is anybody\u2019s guess.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already had questions about the next exhibition. I have no clue,\u201d says Ledru. \u201cI just know it needs to be a big market, we need to find a venue as big as Tokyo Node\u2014and one linked in our story. Who knows? It is very difficult to have all energies and stars aligning. But I think we did it this time with Tiffany Wonder<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, the tale of Tiffany & Co. is as intricate as the tapestry woven into the walls of the second room of the Tiffany Wonder<\/em> exhibition. It\u2019s as whimsical as the jeweled Schlumberger fish floating about the first one. It incites a sense of magic like the moviestars in the Hollywood room. It’s dream-like like Walter Hoving told Gene Moore to make his windows. It\u2019s fanciful, it\u2019s wonderous. And this exhibition does have a lot of heart\u2014Ledru promises it to be so.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, it\u2019s not just another exhibition, it\u2019s one you cannot miss,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Tiffany<\/em> Wonder <\/em>opens at TOKYO NODE gallery in Tokyo, Japan on April 12 and will run through until June 23.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo\"
TOKYO, JAPAN – APRIL 11: Alexandre Arnault (L) and Olivia Wilde (R) attend Tiffany & Co.’s opening celebration for the House’s ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition at the TOKYO NODE gallery on April 11, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Graham Denholm\/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tiffany-wonder-exhibition-tokyo\"
TOKYO, JAPAN – APRIL 11: Gabriella Brooks (L) and Felix Mallard (R) attends Tiffany & Co.’s opening celebration for the House’s ‘Tiffany Wonder’ exhibition at the TOKYO NODE gallery on April 11, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Graham Denholm\/Getty Images for Tiffany & Co.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":50440,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[65,35],"yoast_head":"\nInside The Tiffany & Co. "Tiffany Wonder\u201d Exhibition In Tokyo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Take a tour inside the sparkly opening of the Tiffany & Co. 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