Radiance & Reverie:
Jewels from the Collection of Neil Lane
Toledo Museum of Art
Role: Exhibition Designer
Team: Curators Diane Wright and Emily Stoehrer; Graphic Designer Mark Yappueying
Photos courtesy of TMA
Neil Lane has spent decades building one of the country's most important jewelry collections. Radiance & Reverie traces Lane's evolution as a collector—from 19th-century Paris to early 20th-century New York and, ultimately, to Hollywood. I designed the casework, selected materials, and designed the galleries to shift with each chapter while remaining unified by a contemporary design sensibility, allowing the collection of over 150 works—by makers from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels to Tiffany & Co.—to tell a continuous story.
The Visitor Journey. Housed in the museum's Glass Pavilion, the exhibition unfolded as a sequence of immersive, narrative-driven environments.
The first gallery evoked 19th-century Paris: a circular glass room enveloped by a ring of jewelry cases, its walls wrapped in a floor-to-ceiling aerial view of historic Paris rendered with subtle translucency to harmonize with the Pavilion's materiality while drawing focus inward toward the jewelry. Casework and interiors offered a contemporary interpretation of 19th-century Parisian furniture, balancing historical reference with modern restraint.
The second gallery transported visitors to early 20th-century New York. Dark blue walls, William Morris wallpaper, and a serpentine, Art Nouveau–inspired platform established the shift in era, while wood-stained casework took on the sleek, elegant lines characteristic of the place and period.
Before the final gallery, a small space devoted to jewelry's role in early Hollywood cinema showcased a diamond and sapphire necklace alongside archival film clips. Emerging from this space, visitors stepped onto a red carpet leading to a large-scale projection of Hollywood actors—across decades—wearing jewelry featured in the exhibition. Surrounding casework offered varied viewing experiences, while period dresses and gold lamé curtains enriched the jewelry's presentation, reinforcing the theatricality and glamour of Hollywood.
