Our
Exhibition
2026, London
Between Order and Radiance
High jewellery invitational exhibition
Date: 5-9 March 2026
Venue: 1 Birdcage Walk, SW1H 9HP, London, UK
Organiser: Asian Academy of Arts
Artist：Lu Ying
Curator: Fang Ting Ting
Academic Advisor: Zhao Jun
Coordinator: Veronique Sangyu Chen, Wen Shaoyue
Executive Director: Yang Jie
On-site Coordination: David Shi
Production Team: Qian Lumim, CJcaptain, Hou Yajie, Wen Xuanhe, Roland Min, Shan Linhao
Social media promotion: Cheng Qianyang
Online Coordination: He Ziming, Chang Zeqi, Min Yueying, Liu Jiachen
Video and Photography: Bruce Huang
Lu Ying Debuts “Nouveau Deco” High Jewellery in London with Exhibition “Between Order and Radiance”
From March 5 to 9, the Asian Academy of Arts presented the high jewellery invitational exhibition Between Order and Radiance at 1 Birdcage Walk in London, showcasing fourteen one-of-a-kind works by jewellery artist Lu Ying and marking the London debut of her aesthetic framework known as “Nouveau Deco.”
The exhibition marked the first solo presentation of Lu Ying’s work in London and offered the most comprehensive international showcase to date of her aesthetic framework “Nouveau Deco.” Through sculptural jewellery pieces combining geometric structure, advanced material techniques and cultural symbolism, the exhibition explored how natural forms, architectural logic and mathematical order can be translated into contemporary high jewellery.
A Cross-Cultural Jewellery Vision
Lu Ying is the founder of Oriental Naturalism Jewellery and has long worked between Shanghai and Paris, developing a design philosophy that bridges Eastern aesthetic sensibilities with Western structural modernism. International commentators have described her as a pioneering figure in what she calls “Oriental Naturalism Jewellery.”
Through her brand PRIVAGUET, Lu has consistently advocated the idea of “designing for the future.” Over time, this approach evolved into the aesthetic framework she names “Nouveau Deco,” which combines geometric order, material experimentation and cross-cultural symbolism.
Drawing on her engineering background, Lu developed a 1,668°C titanium forging technique that allows aerospace-grade titanium to achieve sculptural qualities in jewellery while remaining lightweight and structurally resilient. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including at the Louvre International Art Exhibition, where they were described as “wearable naturalist art specimens.”
In public forums and interviews, Lu has emphasised that jewellery is not merely decorative but closely connected to the body, material experience and cultural memory. Through high-temperature forging and experimental structures, she explores wearing as a mode of experience shaped by temporality, embodiment and cross-cultural interpretation.
Curatorial Concept: Order, Craft and Ornament
In the curatorial foreword, Fang Ting Ting, curator of the exhibition, proposes that ornament, structure and craftsmanship—often treated as separate categories—should instead be understood as elements within a single creative system.
In this framework, structure establishes order, craftsmanship realises precision, and ornament becomes the expressive outcome of both. The exhibition places jewellery at the intersection of geometric structure, material intelligence and cultural memory, exploring the possibility of jewellery as a medium capable of conveying both aesthetic beauty and conceptual thought.
The fourteen works are organised into three thematic chapters:
Nature Vive - Light, Material, and Memory
Architectural - Form, Space, and the Body
Mathematics - Mathematics as Structure
Chapter I: Nature Vive - Light, Material, and Memory
Nature Vive approaches nature through structural translation. Floral forms, animal archetypes and chromatic ecosystems are absorbed into geometric order, producing curved systems that hold both dynamism and restraint. In the Begonia brooch-ring, a begonia in 45-degree bloom is compressed into an interactive geometric structure that shifts between plane and volume. Through the precise anodising of titanium, chromatic gradation becomes an intrinsic material property, allowing the floral form to function as a carrier of light. In the Divine Elephant ring, inspired by the sacred elephant and the symmetry of Mughal architecture, natural form is compressed into a ring wall structured like a skeletal framework. Gradient sapphires surround a precisely oriented aquamarine centre stone, forming a circular optical system. The bracelet Spirit Leopard develops a closed-loop structure through skeletal treatment, with diamonds and Burmese spinel beads forming the principal axis of force distribution; the clasp, joining the leopard’s head and tail, suggests the cyclical rhythm of nature. Other works, such as Bund · Orchid, use moonstone and gradient titanium to investigate the order of vegetal growth, while Twin Begonias mobilises the chromatic tension of coloured gemstones and the paved brilliance of diamonds to produce a distinctly architectural sense of volume. Through transformable structures, the work realises a dual mode of becoming, reconstructing nature as a renewable structural mechanism.
Chapter II: Architectural - Form, Space, and the Body
Architectural treats the body as the basis of spatial construction. Necklaces, rings and earrings are built according to principles of load-bearing, suspension and axial symmetry, while graduated strings of beads generate the rhythm of colonnades and carved gemstones assume the role of domes or structural cores. Fountain · Vertical Rhythm takes the medieval fountain as its point of departure: three graduated strands of tanzanite create a downward progression like a curtain of water, while the clasp, built in platinum and diamonds, evokes a surging fountain form. The strands become the facade; the clasp becomes the centre of structural concentration. In Himalaya · Crimson Jade, carved emeralds, tourmalines and emerald bead strands are arranged into a symmetrical dome-like composition, with proportion and weight distribution informed by the ordering principles of Mughal architecture. By compressing architecture into intimate scale, these jewellery works allow monumentality and intimacy to coexist.
Chapter III: Mathematics - Mathematics as Structure
Mathematics focuses on mathematical structure. According to the curatorial text, logarithmic spirals, topological continuity and proportional decomposition become compositional principles; curves follow laws of expansion, linear vectors determine force and direction, and intervals generate geometric tension. In Eye of the Logarithmic Spiral Vortex, a logarithmic spiral unfolds around a central Paraiba tourmaline, while diamonds set in platinum are placed at nodal points along the spiral, articulating both rotational momentum and an ordered expansion of proportion.
With Between Order and Radiance, Lu Ying presents fourteen unique works demonstrating her sustained exploration of natural generation, architectural rationality and mathematical order.
Through the development of her 1,668°C titanium forging technique and the conceptual framework of Nouveau Deco, Lu positions jewellery as a medium for cross-cultural dialogue and artistic experimentation.
The exhibition suggests a broader future direction for contemporary jewellery practice: to discover brilliance within order, to perceive poetry through structure, and to allow thought to emerge through material itself.
