In Seoul, L’ÉCOLE Rewrites The Rules Of Jewellery Education

For L’ÉCOLE School Of Jewellery Art’s first foray into South Korea, theinstitution’s intention to create a space that intersects culture and savoir-faire was crystal clear. With bases around the world – including Hong Kong, Paris, Shanghai and Dubai – and a history of travel, its three-week residency in Seoul arrived at a moment the school had been building toward for some time. 

Founded on a mission to bring the “transmission of jewellery culture to all,” Van Cleef & Arpels‘ Julie Clody-Medina tells marie claire Australia on the ground at the school’s opening, the Korean audience is “very receptive, very curious” with an appetite for “not just the arts but jewellery” that made Seoul feel like the natural next stop. 

The South Korean city has been on L’ÉCOLE’s list of nomadic destinations for “many years”, Clody-Medina reveals. The venue proved the final piece of the puzzle.

The school found its setting within Futura Seoul – a starkly contemporary art institution situated in the hanok village of Bukchon, renowned for its centuries-old traditional houses. At first glance, it appears an odd address for a jewellery school, until you realise that friction is the point. 

L’ÉCOLE President Lise Macdonald pointed to it directly: “In the heart of Seoul, in a historical district and in a very contemporary setting, which is the architecture that you’re surrounded with… we thought it was the right location and also the right time to be here.”

The architectural tension between old and new is a nod to the very same friction L’ÉCOLE, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels as its sole patron, is dismantling in the discipline itself.

“Historically, the world of jewellery, fine jewellery, high jewellery has always been perceived as a closed, very exclusive, very private universe,” Clody-Medina says. 

“The whole mission of L’École is to demystify and open the door to the jewellery world.”

L’ÉCOLE exists to bridge that gap through every one of its courses, podcasts, exhibitions and talks.

“The whole mission of L’École, supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, which is the only and unique patron of L’École, is to demystify and open the door to the jewellery world,” Clody-Medina says.

In Seoul, it plays out across 102 sessions: 16 adult courses, four youth workshops, four expert talks and the breathtaking “Garden of Emeralds” exhibition. Among them: a first-ever lapidary workshop, handing beginners the same tools a master cutter would use. An exhibition centrepiece where a master goldsmith recreates 2,000-year-old Celtic techniques by hand, a few steps from Korean gold craftsmanship on the gallery walls.

The robust program is all anchored by the same intent: to create a deeper appreciation of the “golden hands that have worked together to give life to a creation”.