Earrings Maquette Tropenmuseum

Half a year after starting this project, we have finally delivered the “Hoektoren”: a maquette of Tropenmuseum and Kit Royal Tropical Institute. Both of these institutions originate from the Colonial Institute, which was founded about 100 years ago.

The maquette displays the architecture of the historical building and the colonial symbolism of the numerous works of art that are present here. It also functions as the centrepiece of new permanent exhibition “Tropenmuseum: What’s the Story”. This exhibition shows the history of the museum, including the colonial period, together with a part of our world-famous collection. 150 years of museum history reflect the changing vision of the museum, the collection and the exhibitions in relation to the colonial past and today’s world.

For example, museums still often present clothing as traditional costume or folk costume. Costume sounds established, unchanging. Conversely, ‘western’ clothing is seen as changing quickly and sensitive to trends, i.e. fashion. In this exhibition, the Tropenmuseum now looks at its world-famous textile collection with different eyes. It’s a provoking question: when is something fashion?

And from the leftover acrylic materials from the Tropenmuseum’s maquette, created for this interesting exhibition, Studio KU + designed and created these wonderful and unique earrings. A truly iconic piece for your jewelry collection!