Young Street

The project adds a further dimension to Leane’s design legacy, contributing to a hugely successful period for the jewellery House following the 2017 Sotheby’s New York auction of Leane’s couture archive.

Arbour projects the greenery of neighbouring Kensington Square onto 21 Young Street and compromises 1,850 bronze sculpted leaves and three-dimensional branches. Weaving their way across the façade of the building, the density of the leaves varies on each balcony as if blowing in an autumnal breeze. Leane wanted to capture both the fragility and strength of nature in the metalwork, a theme which heavily reflects Leane’s signature jewellery aesthetic.

The artwork is crafted in Phosphor Bronze and weighs in excess of 4 tonnes. Each of the balcony railings is unique and features hand formed curves with the leaves cast and grafted into stems. Leane chose to work with British award-winning architectural and sculptural metalworkers Chris Brammall Ltd who handmade the structure to Leane’s specifications.

In recognition of the ground-breaking nature of the project, the metalwork will also be on permanent display at the V&A Museum. This means that Leane’s work will now feature across three of the gallery’s collections; jewellery, fashion and metalwork.