Japan: Courts & Culture

All the jubilee celebrations this weekend has reminded me of an exhibition I was invited to back in April - Japan: Courts & Culture.

The exhibition is taking place until February 2023, and I was incredibly excited to attend as its not everyday one gets an invitation to Buckingham Palace!

The exhibition is a collection of Japanese items, which tell the story of 300 years of diplomatic, artistic and cultural exchange between the British and Japanese royal and imperial families. I personally loved the exhibition, perhaps because of my dual heritage, but also because I grew up in a diplomatic household, so seeing photographs, letters and news clippings in addition to the beautiful screens, lacquer and porcelain was absolutely fascinating.

My favourite piece of all was a colour woodcut print of Buckingham Palace by Makino Yoshio in 1911.

Seeing such an iconic British landmark captured in a traditional Japanese style was really awe-inspiring.

The entire exhibition has really inspired one of our next collections I’ve been working on in collaboration with Rust Jewellery, later on this year.

For those who can’t make the exhibition, the book can be found here. The exhibition is on at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace.

Unfortunately Tom had to bail because of a broken leg, so rather typically the only photos I managed to get inside Buckingham Palace was this toilet selfie!

You can find more information about the exhibition here.

*I was invited to the press preview event for this exhibition.