Au: Origins Unearthed
Opening Program
Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 6:00 – 7:30 PM ET · In person and online
6:00 PM · Lecture
Elsie M. Sunderland
Fred Kavli Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University. Sunderland leads the Biogeochemistry of Global Contaminants Research Group and presents research on mercury contamination from illegal gold mining in Amazonian rivers, and its effects on Indigenous communities, waterways, soils, and forests.
Panel discussion
Moderated by Melanie Grant and Dr Raquel Alonso-Perez
Panelists:
Ashley Alexis McFarlane, Founder, Omi Woods.
Erich Adam Moreira Lima, Head of Forensic Geology Service, Brazilian Federal Police; national manager of the Ouro Alvo ("Clean Gold") Program.
Pippa Small, Jewelry Designer and Founder, Pippa Small Jewellery.
Greg Valerio, Jeweller and Activist, Founder of PeaceGold.
7:30 – 9:00 PM · Reception
Earth & Planetary Sciences Gallery
A reception follows in the Earth & Planetary Sciences Gallery of the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Advance registration required for both in-person and online attendance.
About the exhibition
On November 12, 2026, the Mineralogical and Geological Museum at Harvard University (MGMH) opens Au: Origins Unearthed, an exhibition that follows gold from the geological forces that formed it, through the scientific research that decodes its origins, to the studios of six visionary jewelers working today.
At its scientific core, the exhibition draws on Harvard's TraceFor Gold project, an international forensic research program using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) and artificial intelligence to trace gold, including seized illegal material, back to its origin. The project also extends to mercury, in collaboration with Elsie M. Sunderland, Fred Kavli Professor of Environmental Chemistry and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard, who is conducting the mercury isotope analysis.
Alongside the science, the exhibition presents jewels by six designers selected by curators Dr Raquel Alonso-Perez and Melanie Grant for their exceptional skill and their commitment to asking the deepest questions about the material they work with.
The Designers
Daniel Brush
Daniel Brush (1947 - 2022) was an American painter, sculptor, metalsmith and jeweler who pursued an idiosyncratic and contemplative aesthetic. For fifty years, he worked without designs in his studio in New York, creating a body of work across mediums that defies easy categorization. He spent long periods of intense study and seclusion immersing himself in the Japanese Noh theater, early Etruscan culture and gold techniques, mechanical engineering and the Chinese scholar’s study. Through paintings and drawings and objects in steel, gold, aluminum and precious stones, Brush sought to break down boundaries between different parts of the art world.
Marla Aaron
Marla Aaron is the founder and CEO of Marla Aaron Jewelry, an eponymous New York-based fine jewelry brand renowned for its distinct design philosophy. She is celebrated for merging the functionality and aesthetic of everyday industrial hardware—such as carabiner and screw locks—into convertible, highly personal luxury jewelry.
Mike Saatji
Mike Saatji is the Armenian jeweler and the creative director behind Mike Joseph, the fine jewellery brand he founded in 2015. Raised in a family of jewellers, he was surrounded by gemstones from a young age and learned the craft through years of apprenticeship with experienced masters in several cities.
With more than 25 years of experience, Mike combines traditional jewellery making skills with modern ideas and a willingness to experiment. His designs are known for their sculptural forms, unexpected materials and bold proportions. Each piece reflects his hands-on knowledge of how jewellery is made and his desire to create something original.
Ashley Alexis MacFarlane
Ashley Alexis McFarlane is a designer and the founder of Omi Woods, a jewelry company that honors her Jamaican roots and connection to Africana history through fine jewelry. An alumna of the University of Pennsylvania, where she minored in Africana Studies, McFarlane creates pieces that blend ancestry, symbolism, and contemporary craftsmanship. Handcrafted with conflict-free fine metals and fairly sourced African gold, the pieces ground luxury in responsible practices and traceable sourcing. Drawing from a wide cultural archive—from cowrie shells to the geometric designs of Akan goldweights—McFarlane translates historical symbols into heirloom pieces intended to be worn across generations. Omi Woods has been featured in Vogue, Essence, and Harper’s Bazaar, among other publications. Her current collection, A Legend Carved in Stone, explores the life and legacy of boxing great Muhammad Ali.
Pippa Small
Pippa Small is an ethical jewellery brand, creating talismans for modern life. Pippa holds an MA in Medical Anthropology, cultivating her interest in human rights amongst minorities, indigenous peoples and tribal groups through collaborations with grass roots organisations in Borneo, Thailand and India, amongst others. Pippa has won numerous awards for social responsibility, is an ambassador of the human rights organisation Survival International, was awarded an MBE in 2013 for her ethical jewellery and charity work, the Walpole Award for the most socially responsible luxury brand of the year in 2016 and the Green Award for Sustainability by Town & Country Magazine in 2018. Our first shop opened in Notting Hill, London in 2007, followed soon after by our shop in Santa Monica, California.
Ute Decker
born in Germany, lives and works in London
Ute Decker is best known for her minimalist yet powerful sculptural jewellery art.
Her work is included in major public and private collections, such as The Victoria and Albert Museum, London UK; Crafts Council, London UK; Goldsmiths Company, London UK; Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva Switzerland; The Swiss National Museum, Zurich Switzerland; Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas USA. Most recently, the artist has been working on a special commission for The Dallas Museum of Art, Texas USA.
She is the recipient of several notable accolades from The Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Awards UK, winning both Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, among others.
Ute’s work has been exhibited extensively at preeminent international fairs such as PAD London; Masterpiece London; TEFAF Maastricht; Design Miam/Basel; Design Miami; Salon Art + Design New York; and public exhibitions such as the Festival of Architecture, London UK; The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Scotland; the Architecture Biennale, Venice Italy; and the Museum of Arts & Design, New York USA.
Curators
Dr Raquel Alonso-Perez
Raquel Alonso-Perez, PhD, is Curatrix of the Mineralogical and Geological Museum, Harvard University (MGMH), where she is responsible for access to, teaching, research, public education, and continued development of the Earth Science Collection. She holds a B.S. in geology from the University of Granada, Spain, a Ph.D. in Earth and Material Sciences from ETH Zurich, and is a gemologist trained through GEM-A. Her research traces gem and gold deposits to their origin using non destructive analytical techniques. She co-leads TraceFor Gold, an international forensic program using artificial intelligence to trace illegally mined gold. Raquel sits on the boards of the Association for the Study of Jewelry and Related Arts, the Gemstone and Sustainable Development Knowledge Hub, and the Women's Jewelry Association, and is an Associate Editor for GIA and GEM-A.
Melanie Grant
Writer, curator, and author of Coveted: Art and Innovation in High Jewelry (Phaidon, 2020); co-author of Winged Beauty (2021), 100 Years of Creativity (2023), The Jewelry Book (2025), Journey of a Jeweler (2025), and Brilliance: Jewelry, Art and Fashion (2025). Her curations include international exhibitions for Sotheby's and Kensington Palace.