The Jean Schlumberger “Dolphin” clip owned by Jennifer Tilly makes for a theatrical centerpiece in the “Wonder of Dreams” chapter evoking the masterworks of design by Hiroshige. The Tiffany Wonder exhibit is currently at the Tokyo Node Gallery, Japan until June 23 only! Sound design by Rob Daly, lighting by Pleung Group
Jewelry is magical. It holds the potential to be emotionally charged with deep, personal meaning. When I view this Jean Schlumberger Strawberry clip from 1956, the arrangement of these exceptional rubies recalls one of my mother’s favorite poems by Hood River, Oregon poet, Anthony Euwer:
Picture a place where the strawberries grow.
Acre on acre and row on row;
Picture a meadow all carpeted over
With clover, just bobbing and beautiful clover;
Picture a pedigreed Alderny beast
Browsing all day on the honey-topped feast;
Picture a mother who’s willing to bake
Short-cake that only a mother can make—
Then answer me true if it isn’t a crime
To have a dry mooly in strawberry time.
In strawberry time when you like to dream
Of pouring out cream in a golden stream,
Dripping and trickling and splashing down
Over a crust of the richest brown,
Into the drooly and mottled flood
Of short-cake and sugar and strawberry blood.
Picture your having an automobile
In perfect condition except for one wheel;
Picture a motor-boat built for the race
Dry-docked on Sahara’s unlimited space;
Picture yourself gotten up in your best
And nowhere to go to once you were dressed;
Picture a hammock, soft breezes, a moon,
And no sighing mortal with whom you could spoon;
Picture ad lib—and the worst is sublime
Beside a dry mooly in strawberry time.
In strawberry time when you like to dream
Of pouring out cream in a golden stream,
Dripping and trickling and splashing down
Over a crust of the richest brown,
Into the drooly and mottled flood
Of short-cake and sugar and strawberry blood.
—A Dry Mooly In Strawberry Time
From Rhymes of Our Valley, 1916
Currently on view at the Tiffany Wonder exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, this dazzling jewel is one of nearly 500 objects on display that trace the rich creative heritage of Tiffany & Co.
Strawberry Clip
Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co.
Gold, platinum, diamonds, rubies
1956
Photography by Thomas Milewski
Photography by Kenji Toma
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The desire for discovery first drew Elsa Peretti to Japan during a world tour in July 1969, resulting in a powerful identification with many facets of the Japanese culture that would remain for the rest of her lifetime. Japanese culture with its refined attention to aesthetics, organic design and ceremony and often honoring ancient forms and materials, tirelessly informed Elsa’s many designs, culminating in one of the most luminous design careers of the twentieth century. Unwaveringly glamorous, without the trappings of the expected, Peretti transformed the history of design with her unique, sensuous style that she applied to a broad spectrum of projects including jewelry, tableware, interior design, gardens, homes, fragrance, and an infinite number of unrealized ideas. “I think she could design a car,” Diana Vreeland once declared. “She could design anything very beautifully.”
-Christopher Young
Except from the original text published in Tiffany Wonder by Alba Cappellieri and Christopher Young. Assouline, 2024
Assemblage by Elsa Peretti c.1975
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Elsa Peretti fully embraced the Japanese notion of ichigo ichie, (一期一会) the concept of treasuring a shared moment as an unrepeatable experience in one’s life. Videotape footage of Peretti’s interactions with these craftsmen captured a deep satisfaction of the process, a heightened, drawn-out experience not unlike the traditional tea ceremony, a universal, nonverbal synergy and enriched enjoyment among the participants. Peretti, to command respect from the older-generation Japanese craftsmen, transformed her physical presence by wearing tailored men’s suiting from Rome with a men’s Armani shirt, and sat in a traditionally masculine fashion while taking full command of the meeting. Hours-long, these meetings capture Peretti engrossed in the collaboration, cigarette in hand, grandly gesturing to a detail on the side of a lacquer bangle, identifying the precise placement of the desired surface quality. Invariably, the artisans knowingly nod to Elsa’s emphatic direction without hesitation. Mutual respect permeates the mood, in part due to the fact that the craftsmen understood they were in the presence of one of the world’s great designers.”
-Christopher Young
Except from the original text published in Tiffany Wonder by Alba Cappellieri and Christopher Young. Assouline, 2024
Still image from videotaped 1981 interview with Lee Hall at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Photograph with master woodcarver, Murakami san, by Lesley Frowick
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“From the Japanese arts, lacquer, silk and bamboo were materials she would continue to celebrate. The overwhelming result was that Elsa Peretti, through her devotion to craftsmanship and integrating traditional Japanese techniques and materials into her new designs for Tiffany, led a charge for a new kind of timeless, glamorous style that, despite very ancient origins, the world had never seen before.”
- Christopher Young
Original text published in Alba Cappellieri and Christopher Young, Tiffany Wonder. Assouline, 2024
Elsa Peretti in a red scarlet wrap by Halston, in Kyoto, Japan, c. 1975. Photograph by David Kidd. Courtesy of The Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation.
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One of the most widely photographed windows in Tiffany’s history, this display was designed in collaboration with Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin to celebrate the world premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, 2013. In the current Tiffany Wonder exhibition, we feature a Louis Comfort Tiffany 1920’s coral bandeau in the display window, period to the opulent film’s setting. #tiffanywonder@bazluhrmann@catherinemartindesigns@tiffanyandco
In honor of the great ukiyo-e artist, Hiroshige, this new multimedia window design evokes the spirit of his rich, textural world telling a visual poem that juxtaposes Jean Schlumberger’s “Dolphin” clip in a dream-like creation story.
The windows of display pioneer Gene Moore continue to inspire us at Tiffany today, and it is an honor to follow in the footsteps of that rich tradition. My original watercolor design 2023 (detail).
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Jean Schlumberger’s masterpiece, the “Dolphin” clip is the focal point of the “Wonder of Dreams” chapter in our exhibition. Drawing from the work of Hiroshige, this special multi-media installation recalls the windows of Gene Moore. The brooch is on generous loan from Jennifer Tilly.
A jeweled creation for great actresses, Elizabeth Taylor was gifted this same design from Richard Burton on the occasion of the premiere of the film The Night of the Iguana, August 11, 1964.
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