How can historical objects inform the design and making of contemporary jewellery?

This exhibition showcases innovative jewellery by students of Jewellery and Objects at the National College of Art and Design. Their designs were inspired by objects from the Museum’s Decorative Arts and Ethnographic collections. Finely crafted European and Asian metalwork, and figurative and geometrical gold-weights made by the Akan peoples of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, are among the objects chosen by the students during this collaborative project.

The students’ jewellery engages with themes relating to their own lives in the contemporary world such as social change, the coexistence of beauty and danger; family and heritage; rituals and camaraderie.

Beyone the Surface is on display until 1 March, 2026.