THE AUSTRALIAN GEMMOLOGIST | World of Wonder: Margot McKinney Exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane 18 June to 6 November, 2022
World of Wonder: Margot McKinney Exhibition at the Museum of Brisbane 18 June to 6 November, 2022
On 5 August, a delighted group of members of the National Council of Jewellery Valuers came together to spend an evening with jewellery designer, Margot McKinney, at the Museum of Brisbane.
Margot was accompanied by her nephew, Andrew McKinney Welch, the fifth generation of the McKinney business, which was founded in Toowoomba in 1884.
We were taken through the exhibition with designer, Margot, relishing her stories. Each room unfolded exquisite designs, with immense Queensland boulder opals (Figure 1) surrounded by rainbows of gemstones: stunning sizes of Burmese spinel, Paraíba tourmalines, mandarin garnet, rubellite, tanzanite, aquamarine and tsavorites; cuts of colour in all configurations.
Margot has created hundreds of settings, collecting diamonds and sapphires, and enhancing the fragments of her dream. Extraordinary Australian South Sea and baroque pearls captured the colours of nature (Figure 2).
The wonder in seeing all these elements together was absolute joy. Dinner was served and we continued exchanging conversation about which pieces we most adored.
Catalogues of the exhibition were purchased and Margot was very kind to sign our copies and allow photos to be taken to remember the fabulous evening we shared (Figure 3).
Figure 1. Necklace with an exotic abundance of boulder opals and peridot.
Figure 2. A stunning necklace encrusted with baroque pearls and tourmalines.
Figure 3. Rebecca Sampson (left) with Margot McKinney.
