“Seeds and Carats:
When Photomicrography
Honors Nature”
Co-organizers: KYOTOGRAPHIE &
L’Ecole, School of Jewelry Arts
Supported by Van Cleef & Arpels

Co-founder of Tendance Floue collective, Thierry Ardouin works on the links between man and his environment. For this project, the French photographer worked on the infinitely small with scientific equipment. His portraits of seeds reveal their fascinating formal diversity and beauty, drawing the history of these "great travellers". Wild or cultivated from different species all over the world, most of these seeds come from the collections of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Chosen, lit and framed with the greatest care, these portraits disturb our subjectivity as viewers : they become symbols which, far from being generic images, question our perceptions and our relationship to origin. From the emergence of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago to the questions raised by today’s hybrid seeds, via the discovery of the uses of seeds across cultures and eras, Seed stories explores the challenges of diversity.

Billie Hughes visited her first gem mine (in Thailand) at age two and by age four had visited three major sapphire localities in Montana. A 2011 graduate of UCLA, she qualified as a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA) in 2013. An award winning photographer and photomicrographer, she has won prizes in the Nikon Small World and Gem-A competitions, among others. Her writing and images have been featured in books, magazines, and online by Forbes, Vogue, National Geographic, and more. In 2019 the Accredited Gemologists Association awarded her their Gemological Research Grant.

Olivier Segura only came across the world of jewelry after a few years devoted to advertising and communication. On completing his initial training, scientific studies in biology and geology with a diploma in gemology, he moved to Bangkok where he created his gem trading company. Thanks to this, he discovered the fascinating world of jewelry and craftsmanship. Returning to Paris to take over the management of the LFG (French Gemological Laboratory), a position he held for ten years, he joined L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts’ Scientific Council. In 2018, Olivier Segura took the plunge and joined the institution as Scientific Director. He has been responsible for new courses, such as “Pearl: History, Science and Legends”, exhibitions, such as “Garden of Emeralds”.