Play of colours during a workshop at L’ECOLE, School of Jewelry Arts.

Muhammad Yusuf, Features Writer

L’École, School of Jewelry Arts, has decided to establish its presence in the Middle East region. In November, its permanent campus opens in Dubai at Dubai Design District (d3), which is a global creative ecosystem and part of TECOM Group PJSC. L’École, School of Jewelry Arts, was founded in 2012 in Paris with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels, and was encouraged to open space by the success of its travelling school sessions organised in recent years in the Middle East. The School aims to spread jewellery culture to the widest possible audience and is open to all, from beginners and collectors to the simply curious, including the young. L’École offers a programme of online and in-person courses and talks, as well as free temporary exhibitions, publications and research projects.

Currently, it boasts two permanent campuses in Paris, one in the Hotel de Segur, a stone’s throw from Place Vendome, the historic centre of the French jewellery industry and the second, which is to open its doors in the Hotel de Mercy-Argenteau, one of the few 18th-century buildings preserved on the Grands Boulevards. A campus was opened in 2019 in Hong Kong, in the Western Kowloon district, facing the bay. 2023 will see the opening of two further campuses: one in Shanghai in the Twin Villas, on Middle Huaihai Road — also known as the “Oriental Champs Elysees” — and the other in Dubai.

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“Dubai’s magnet for iconic creative brands and brilliant talent is growing stronger,” said Khadija Al Bastaki, Senior Vice President of d3 – TECOM Group. “The arrival of institutes like L’École takes our efforts a step further, providing creative minds the opportunity to sharpen their skills and craft original, innovative designs. Ensuring such brands continue to find a space and community that fits their needs and ethos is a priority for d3, and it enriches our creative ecosystem with new ideas, ingenuity and talent.”

“We really wanted a presence in the Middle East and to one day open a L’École, School of Jewelry Arts, location there. When we were offered this building in this very exciting and vibrant neighbourhood, it was the perfect time,” said Lise Macdonald, President of L’École, School of Jewelry Arts. “There’s a common thread linking the three new campuses that L’École, School of Jewelry Arts opening this year in Paris in the Hotel de Mercy - Argenteau, in Shanghai in the Twin Villas and in Dubai, at Dubai Design District (d3),” said French designer Constance Guisset. “But here, even though I’ve worked to create a soothing atmosphere that, I hope, will make you feel good, there are more contrasts, with stronger and denser colours.”

  Sophie Claudel, Director, L’ECOLE Middle East.

Each year, L’École will host free temporary exhibitions. The inaugural exhibition dedicated to the emerald – ‘Garden of Emeralds’ (Nov. 23 – Mar. 10, 2024, Dubai Design District, Building 10, Ground Floor) - will reveal the many secrets and mysteries of the gemstone to the public. It is part of the ‘Discover the gemstones’ series, and presents research carried out by L’École on emeralds. The tour takes visitors from the depths of the earth, where an unlikely union of elements gives birth to emerald crystal, to workshops, where it is shaped and worked by expert hands to reveal its colour, intensity and beauty.

In addition to the inaugural exhibition, L’École will offer a programme of in-person talks covering three main areas: Savoir-Faire (jewellery craftsmanship), the World of Gemstones and the History of Jewellery. From 2024, L’École will also offer courses and workshops for adults and children. Delivered by a bouquet of lecturers including art historians, gemologists, jewellers and craftsmen, each course will bring together a maximum of six to twenty four students to ensure ideal learning conditions. Each month, L’École also offers free online talks open to everyone. Sophie Claudel, Director, L’École Middle East, spoke about her role

What is your link to the Middle East?

It goes back to when I worked for a London architectural firm as an art consultant. One of the projects won by the agency was in Doha, Qatar, where I went to design a whole programme of art in a public space. So everything is new, it’s a great adventure! When I first came to Dubai to get a taste of the Emirates, I was immediately hooked. It’s a vertical city and I’m drawn to living up in the sky. Plus, there is a multiculturalism here that generates an absolutely incredible fluidity.

How is the final stretch of the inaugural progressing?

We’re making great strides! We were only two when we started a few months ago, and we’ll be soon 17. When you post an ad in this region, you receive 200 high-level applications; it’s extraordinary. We are building our network very fast, with potential partners in the cultural field as in the higher education sector. The response is unanimously positive, from Zayed University, DIDI, to Al Safa Library or Alserkal Avenue, to name but a few. We really feel warmly welcomed and part of a community of friends and partners who want us to succeed as much as we do.

L’École is an initiation school, open to everyone. It targets beginners as well as enlightened amateurs, collectors and those with a curiosity for the world of jewellery. Since its creation, it has welcomed more than forty thousand students from some forty countries, aged 18 to 83.