The Met in Partnership with Vacheron Constantin Unveils Original Works of Art Created During Artisan Residency Program Focused on Reinterpreting Traditional Crafts

(New York, September 15, 2026)—The Met has announced the unveiling of three original works of art created during The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vacheron Constantin Artisan Residency, an 18-month program that emphasized the preservation and reinterpretation of traditional craft techniques. The three works of art—Vessel by Aspen Golann, Shaping Time by Ibrahim Said, and Ruined Splendour – BRONZE DIADEM by Joy Harvey—harness various media to explore and adapt craft methods in innovative ways. The residency program is one of several initiatives undertaken by the Swiss watchmaker and The Met as part of a partnership that reflects a shared dedication to preserving and celebrating traditional craftsmanship.

“This artisan residency program is a collaborative initiative that embodies our mutual commitment to supporting artistic innovation and cultural dialogue,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “It is a thrill to see how the three artisans, inspired by their engagement with The Met collection and Vacheron Constantin, have created works that breathe new life into traditional techniques, powerfully connecting the past and present.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vacheron Constantin Artisan Residency celebrates international artisans who demonstrate virtuosity in creating objects of exceptional aesthetic and technical value. The residency unfolded in three phases from May 2025 to October 2026. Artisans first had extended opportunities to engage with The Met collection and staff, and also traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to learn from Vacheron Constantin artisans, processes, and practices. Following this research period, residency artisans transitioned to creating and producing original works of art that reinterpreted traditional crafts, with Met staff providing logistical and material support and Met curators serving as advisors to help ensure the successful realization of each artisan's vision. In the coming weeks, residency artisans will share their processes through workshops, programs, and community events at The Met.

“The works the artisans created pushed materials—clay, wood, metal, and precious stones—to their limits, creating new processes and reimagining techniques,” said Heidi Holder, The Met’s Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chair of Education. “As they share skills, knowledge, and conversation across New York, the artisans will help novice and experienced craftspeople reinterpret their own materials and techniques and guide and invigorate the next generation of makers, one community at a time. That’s the power of a program like this.”

The Met and Vacheron Constantin’s partnership launched in 2023 and emphasizes a shared dedication to mentorship, craftsmanship, and cultural legacy. The partnership supports a number of initiatives that align with the Museum’s mission, including educational programs, special events, and Vacheron Constantin timepieces inspired by artworks from The Met collection.

Further information about the residency is available on The Met’s website.

Vessel by Aspen Golann
Aspen Golann’s work consists of a monumental vessel form: hollow wooden structures between four and seven feet tall that merge traditions of coopering, carving, and furniture ornamentation. Drawing from barrel-making methods, Golann has constructed compound curved staves through bent lamination and steam bending from wood riven directly from a felled log, then assembled them into volumetric forms that echo the language of early American case furniture and domestic containers found in The Met collection. Once built, these vessels become sites for ornament, with imagery adapted from 17th-century crewel work embroidery and strapwork carving—often found on rectilinear chests and flat architectural panels—on their rounded and asymmetrical surfaces. This meeting of technique and form creates a deliberate slippage: a decorative language historically bound to fiber and flatness pressed into conversation with curved, spatial bodies.

Ruined Splendour – BRONZE DIADEM by Joy Harvey
Using a custom alloy similar to those used in ancient European bronzes, Joy Harvey has created a diadem composed of intertwined forged rhomboid profiles connected by sheets of bronze and adorned with gold granules and gold tear-shaped pendants. The piece was then “maimed” through two external forces, one gentle and inexorable and the other alien and violent, creating a symbolic ruin. The first force is represented by gold bramble flowers and canes, branching out from roots embedded in the diadem itself, symbolizing nature. The second force, representing human-driven destruction, is comprised of machine-made steel rods that pierce the diadem and break it, creating not a natural decay but an unnatural destruction. Harvey has achieved this effect with a variety of techniques, including alloying and forging, granulation and ruined guillochage, creation of the patina, and gold-chain making. The resulting work is beautifully distraught and wrecked—providing space for the tension between natural and manmade destruction and the human urge to succumb and lie still in turbulent times of conflict with the existential pull, however small, to resist and react. The artisan was inspired particularly by a Carpathian diadem in the Museum collection along with an unfinished painting by Theodore Rousseau.

Shaping Time by Ibrahim Said
Inspired by three objects in The Met collection, Ibrahim Said’s Shaping Time builds upon ancient Egyptian and Islamic shapes, materials, and design principles, featuring three distinct semicircular shapes built into one vertical three-layer sculpture. Surface designs on the piece incorporate designs from the ancient Egyptian and Islamic worlds. The work evokes symbolic and metaphorical elements of timelessness connected to concepts of eternity and infinity, bridging Egypt’s many cultural histories, from the time of the pharaohs, to the Islamic era, to the present and the afterlife.

About The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens—businessmen and financiers as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day—who wanted to create a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. Today, The Met displays tens of thousands of objects covering 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online. Since its founding, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. Every day, art comes alive in the Museum’s galleries and through its exhibitions, events and educational programs, revealing both new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures. The Met presents over 29,000 educational events and programs throughout the year to make art accessible to everyone, regardless of background, disability, age, or experience.

About Vacheron Constantin
Founded in 1755, Vacheron Constantin is the world’s oldest watchmaking manufacture in continuous operation, having continued without interruption for more that 270 years. With a rich heritage built on the transmission of horological excellence and stylistic innovation across generations of master craftsmen, the Maison’s creations embody the values of Haute Horlogerie with understated and refined elegance. Each watch bears a unique technical and aesthetic signature, meeting the highest standards of craftsmanship and finishing. Vacheron Constantin’s collections—Patrimony, Traditionnelle, Métiers d’Art, Overseas, Fiftysix, Historiques and Égérie—blend tradition with a spirit of innovation. The Maison also offers vintage pieces through Les Collectionneurs, as well as one-of-a-kind bespoke watches through its Les Cabinotiers department.

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September 15, 2026