(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

When Sophie Claudel talks about birds, it's as though she's revisiting a memory that never quite left her.“I had a bird when I was little,” she recalls during a chat in her office in Dubai Design District (d3).“A canary named Citron, which means 'lemon' in French. He lived for twelve years - can you imagine? We would talk to each other for hours. I could even imitate all his sounds.”

Sophie is the Director of L'ÉCOLE Middle East, School of Jewelry Arts supported by Van Cleef & Arpels, having just unveiled Poetry of Birds, an exhibition that's running until April 25, 2026.

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Freely inspired by Farid al-Din Attar's The Conference of the Birds, it weaves a dialogue between 19th- and 20th-century Western jewelry and the rich traditions of Islamic art.

Exceptional jewels and precious objects from the world's most renowned houses - Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Buccellati, Fabergé, Boivin, Marchak, JAR, and more - perch alongside historic Middle Eastern works of art from the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation and Dubai Museums. These include ceramic pieces and miniatures, each one carrying the delicate weight of time.

“It actually began with an exhibition called Birds of Paradise in Paris in 2018,” Sophie explains.“When we started exploring the idea of birds in jewelry, that earlier exhibition was in our minds. But then we thought - if we talk about birds here, we have to connect it to local birds. We needed the right thread of storytelling. That's how The Conference of the Birds came in.”

Between earth and sky

The exhibition's scenography, she says, was conceived almost like a journey - an emotional one as much as visual. The space literally traces a bird's ascent.“You start on the ground,” Sophie says.“Then, as you move through, the colours shift from browns to greens to blues - and you feel like you're flying yourself.”

There's something quietly spiritual about that ascent, and Sophie doesn't shy away from calling it so.“This exhibition is very much about spirituality,” she says.“It's not a word we use often when we talk about art or jewelry, but it's at the heart of this project.”

Curated by Marie-Laure Cassius-Duranton, Exhibition Curator, Gemologist and Art Historian at L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts, Poetry of Birds mixes eras, forms, and materials, from 11th-century artefacts to contemporary photography by Emirati artist Faisal Alrais, whose debut series captures the grace and symbolism of birds from the Middle East and beyond.

“This exhibition is really about storytelling,” Sophie says.“When you organise an exhibition, you want the audience to be touched - to remember it for years. The best way to do that is to show many different ways of talking about the same topic.”

It's why Poetry of Birds gathers over 150 pieces.

Among them, Sophie has a personal favourite: a small hoopoe from the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilisation.“I'm in love with that piece,” she admits.“It actually looks like my Citron. It's the first piece you see when you enter, and it feels like a statement - something from the 11th century that still feels alive and poetic today.”

The woman behind the vision

Before joining L'ÉCOLE, Sophie's career spanned art schools, embassies, and cultural institutions across France, the UK, and the US. And, by default, the cities she's lived in have left a creative footprint in her.

She's passionate about architecture, so living in cities like London, Paris, and New York changed her perception about the aesthetic of structures. "I was born in the 20th century, so I am very close to that kind of aesthetic," she says. "I am totally convinced that such aesthetics change who you are."

But her curiosity has never dimmed.

“I think I was born curious,” she says.“Maybe it's in my DNA - or maybe it's the way you're raised. If you grow up with curious parents, you become curious yourself. I'm curious all the time - and I think I'll be until the end.”

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