English
The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Swiss luxury watchmaker Vacheron Constantin have unveiled the debut works from their joint Artisan Residency Programme. Three artists presented pieces created through the 18-month collaboration, which the two institutions launched in May 2025.
A Partnership Built on Craft and Culture
The Vacheron Constantin and Met Museum residency program aims to preserve, pass on, and reinterpret traditional craft techniques. It marks the third such partnership for the watchmaker. The company also collaborates with the Louvre, a relationship dating to 2019, and with the Palace Museum in Beijing, established in 2024.
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As part of the program, the selected artists spent significant time at both the Met and the Vacheron Constantin Manufacture in Geneva. Those experiences then served as the foundation for their individual works. The three artists chosen were Aspen Golann, Ibrahim Said, and Joy Harvey.
Three Artists, Three Distinct Works
Golann created a monumental wooden vessel featuring nature motifs carved in bas relief. She drew inspiration from 17th- to 19th-century wooden chests from Connecticut and Pennsylvania held in the Met’s collection. These objects exemplify a neoclassical New England style, which shaped her finished piece, titled Vessel. During her time at the Manufacture, she worked with artisans on enameling and engraving techniques.
Said’s contribution, Shaping Time, is a three-tiered vertical sculpture. It features relief carvings, piercings, and glazed surfaces that draw on ancient Egyptian and Islamic objects from the Met’s collection. At the Manufacture, Said also explored enameling, engraving, and lacquer painting alongside the watchmaker’s craftspeople.
Harvey’s work, Ruined Splendour, takes a different form. It is a bronze diadem made from forged rhomboid bronze interlaced with panels inspired by fine filigree found on ancient Greek necklaces. After its creation, the piece was pierced with rods to achieve its deliberate sense of “ruination.” Harvey drew on ancient jewelry from Greece, India, and China within the Met’s collection. She also spent time at the Manufacture learning guillochage, a technique for engraving intricate patterns such as leaves and flowers onto metal.
Shared Commitment to Artistic Innovation
Met CEO Max Hollein praised the initiative in a statement. He described it as “a collaborative initiative that embodies our mutual commitment to supporting artistic innovation and cultural dialogue.”
Together, the three works reflect the program’s broader goal of connecting contemporary artists with centuries-old craft traditions. By bridging museum scholarship and watchmaking expertise, the residency offers a distinctive model for cultural and artistic collaboration.
