Margot McKinney Museum of Brisbane - World Of Wonder Launch Night

OFFICIAL LAUNCH EVENT

The story behind four generations of design and the world’s rarest gems

MARGOT'S WORLD For four generations, the McKinney family name has been synonymous with luxury jewels. However, it is Margot who has elevated that name to soaring new heights through her own jewellery brand and flagship store in Brisbane and internationally through her stockists in the prestigious Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores in the USA. From the coral reef in our own backyard to the rich palette of colours found on safari in Tanzania, this exhibition will be a mesmerising celebration of the complex and profoundly beautiful environments and materials that have inspired Margot’s designs such as opulent opals, lustrous pearls and rare, exotic gems like the intensely blue tanzanite, lilac amethyst and pink tourmaline.

Margot’s dedication to her craft knows no limits. It’s not unusual for Margot to wait 10 years to complete the perfect collection of jewels to incorporate into one bespoke piece.

She has a hands-on role in selecting the gems, working directly with world-leading pearl farmers, miners and cutters, ensuring quality and sustainability.

With a practice that is rooted deeply in nurturing long-term relationships with suppliers, Margot has worked with leading pearl farmers, opal experts and gem-cutters from across the globe to secure the rare and precious materials that have been the centrepiece of her designs, making her one-of-a-kind pieces so coveted amongst her international clients.

McKinney’s Jewellers is a beacon of tradition combined with a fresh, modern approach. This fifth-generation business, started by John McKinney in Toowoomba in 1884 has been a stalwart and indeed a major success in the Queensland and East Coast retail scene for 138 years.

WORLD OF OPALS Opal mining, even today, remains an often solitary, mostly manual and physically demanding business in the regional towns of Lightning Ridge (New South Wales), Andamooka, Coober Pedy and Mintabie (South Australia), and Winton and Quilpie (Queensland). Opal is found in veins within the stone, or in more pebbly ‘potch’ on the ground, its presence unpredictable and easily damaged by machinery.

Opal, Australia's national gem, forms deep underground in a process that dates to the Cretaceous period around 100 million years ago. During this time, Australia was made up of an inland sea that receded and refilled over millions of years, resulting in layers of fine marine sands rich in silica. Voids and cracks in the ground enabled the silica-rich material to flow down, forming opal. It is estimated that just one centimetre of opal would have taken around five million years to form. The stone's fiery and aquatic colours, pattern and rarity are highly sought after, valuable and a finite resource.

Margot begins with the design. Shape and colour drive her selection of opals, often paired with other fine gemstones in complementary tones, a process she describes as “painting with gems". Margot's pieces use Australian boulder opal and the rarest form of this gem, black opal, found mostly in Lightning Ridge.

Margot selects opals “in the rough”, after which they are cut to her desired shape. Other times, she looks for already cut stones that lend themselves to her designs. The qualities in each stone dictate their use. Mostly her selections are ‘Old World’ or last century opal. This type of stone does not emerge from contemporary opal mines and is valued for its superior colour, clarity and strength. In 2009 Margot's unique stylistic approach saw her win the International Opal Design Award.

WORLD OF PEARLS Margot loves pearls. For her they have an intense emotional resonance: her mother Anne and both her grandmothers wore pearls almost every day, a tradition that Margot and her sisters also practise.

Australian pearls are the largest and the highest quality produced in the world, starting at ten millimetres in diameter, a size where Japanese pearls peak. Australian pearlscan grow to 20 millimetres and, in rare cases, even larger. They are highly regarded for their durability, size and longevity. Grown from a healthy and robust Pinctada maxima oyster through its natural lifespan, they don’t need special treatment to enhance their lustre.

In Margot’s hands, pearls cast off any traditionally conservative and understated antecedents. Large and bold, they are integral to many of her designs, often complemented with colourful gemstones as the centrepiece of an arrangement. Their natural shapes, either round or baroque (those with an organic shape that is not perfectly round), are used in designs that enhance their extraordinary size and lustrous qualities.

In 2016 Margot travelled to a pearl farm owned by Ellies Pearling during the harvest. Located in remote north-east Arnhem Land, this farm comprises 639 square kilometres within a pearling estate’ of Pinctada maxima oysters. The harvest happens on the water: the days on the ship set by the rhythm of sunup to sundown. Margot was able to watch each pearl as they came out of the oyster, with sharks circling the boat at times. On this occasion she acquired the entire harvest of baroque pearls, which changed her practice forever.

This bold and extravagant move consolidated and extended Margot McKinney globally. It ensured a quality supply of baroque and round pearls, which have become part of her signature aesthetic.

Combined with high quality gemstones they culminate in designs that are sublime in their radiance and lustre.

EXPLORE PROCESS, MATERIALS AND LEGACY This room uncovers the key processes, materials and relationships integral to Margot’s works while providing insight into the historic jewellery industry. In Australia, the industry dates to early colonial settlement, commencing around the advent of the Gold Rush in 1851, and subsequent discovery periods and boom industries. The McKinney family connections explored within this room traverse these histories of migration and the motivation to travel great distances in search of prosperity.

This motivation is apparent in the story of Margot’s great grandfather John McKinney, who ventured to Australia for gold, instead opening a retail business in 1884. Many of Margot’s long-term collaborators share a similar family history, including opal wholesaler Peter Sherman, whose great grandfather fossicked for opals as a teenager in South Australia in 1896; and pearl farmer Aji Ellies who follows in the legacy of Thomas Bastian Ellies, Broome’s most revered pearl trader, who travelled to Australia from Sri Lanka in 1887. The exclusive access Margot has to fine opals and pearls in Australia is enhanced through these longstanding relationships.

Through her generational ties and personal involvement in the world of international jewellery, Margot has the most discerning of taste when it comes to sourcing fine materials. Rare gemstones, opals and pearls are,through Margot’s vision, transformed with bold and unexpected designs into wearable art. When designing, Margot takes her cues from the stones themselves and allows herself to experiment.

She draws gems together, examines their undertones and highlights, shapes and curvature, their opacity and refractive potential. As she explains: “I know from a gemmological sense why a gemstone is good.

But the overarching thing is that a good gemstone will just talk to you.”

WORLD OF WONDERS Within Margot McKinney’s oeuvre, it is bold colour and large gemstones that unite her work. For Margot, green speaks of new growth rainforests – paired with sultry pink, it forms a perfect ensemble, while orange is reminiscent of luscious fruits, and blues of far-flung natural reefs. So many of her jewels offer up colours found in nature, with the vibrancy of the gemstones integral to the way that they too are formed in the environment. She describes the gems, opals and pearls used in her work as “miracles of nature”.

Travelling is one of the joys of Margot’s practice. She draws inspiration from all over the world, and works most creatively on new designs in international locations. Often, Margot travels to view gems, experience jewellery fairs, visit collaborators and clients, or to participate in events that advocate for Australian talent, such as G’Day USA, which is a personal highlight. Margot also spends time in the

United States where her work is stocked by major retailers, Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. She is the only Australian jewellery designer represented by both luxury brands.

Margot’s distinct design style is characterised by colour and a bold, awe- inspiring aesthetic. Each piece celebrates life’s joys—from intense depths of colour to exciting locations, family and togetherness—which the artist holds dear.

She designs pieces that make a statement, offering the wearer confidence in making both an entrance and leaving an unforgettable impression. Her ability to identify and combine gems, opals and pearls in combinations that are breathtaking sets her apart. As Margot explains: “I’ve never created a piece of jewellery that I’ve gone, well, it’s just okay. I’m driven by having a fabulous outcome, not any level of restraint.”

OFFICIAL OPENING NIGHT IN THE DOME GALLERY

A THANK YOU TO OUR SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKERS (clockwise from top left): Nina Schrinner, Lady Mayoress of Brisbane; Sallyanne Atkinson ao, Chairman of Museum of Brisbane; Renai Grace, Director of Museum of Brisbane; Adrian Schrinner, Lord Mayor of Brisbane; Margot McKinney oam; hon Julie Bishop, former Minister for Foreign Affairs