Insights
'Hotel 87 & Other Relics': Melanie Grant's 'Love Letter to Italy'
This contemporary jewelry exhibition spotlights some of the finest wearable art pieces
Hotel 87 & Other Relics is an exhibition curated by writer, Harvard scholar and jewelry expert, Melanie Grant. In celebration of the launch, we were lucky enough to host an exclusive private viewing of Hotel 87 & Other Relics at the Elisabetta Cipriani Art Gallery in London.
Framed around a conceptual installation of five objects that Grant collected during her recent travels through Italy, Hotel 87 & Other Relics highlights 20 artists and design houses that create stunning wearable art. “If you actually get to hold and wear something from an artist, it means something totally different”, said Grant.
The exhibition is a real-life rendition of Grant’s latest publication, The Jewelry Book, a compendium covering the last 200 years of jewelry, published by Phaidon. On her decision to include many Italian-themed pieces, the exhibition is “a love letter to Italy,” she said, “a country with so much life, joy and fun.”
Inside the gallery, the intention and complexity behind each piece is breathtaking. Grant presented Wallace Chan’s beautiful tsavorite garnet Spring of Life ring featuring a frog holding a diamond-set pearl for the guests. “It is made from titanium, but the blue column down the side is porcelain. Wallace Chan invented a porcelain that is five times stronger than steel, yet it is still very light.”
Grant provided insights on some of the pieces’ historical context, highlighting an ancient pair of gold earrings. “We have these 2nd and 3rd century Grecian-Parthian hoops. These are so old, yet they look like they could have been made yesterday. That is the beauty of jewelry” she told guests.
According to Grant, each piece in the exhibition holds a story beyond its aesthetic allure. “We have the famous ‘shackle necklace’ by Louise Bourgeois. This is made from solid silver rods and is a statement on the constraints women faced long before feminism,” she explained. "The beauty and power of jewelry never fails to amaze me."
The Jewelry Book is out now.