A Conversation with Helen Molesworth, Senior Jewellery Curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London

Helen Molesworth is an esteemed expert in the gem and jewellery industry, with an extensive international career spanning commercial, academic, and curatorial roles across Europe and Asia. Over a decade as a jewellery specialist for Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London and Geneva, she has handled and valued historically notable gems and notable collections, including the private jewellery collection of HRH Princess Margaret. Currently, Helen serve

The Journey of Sri Lankan Sapphires Through History with Helen Molesworth, Senior Jewellery Curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum

I was thrilled to see Sri Lanka ranked highest on the map of key ancient gem sources. It stood out as the origin of five key gemstones, surpassing India with three, while other regions had just one each in comparison.

What’s Going RIGHT with Sri Lanka?

Embarrassingly, it took a YouTube video from Aquaman himself for me to learn that Sri Lanka had been awarded, “recognition as the UN World Restoration Flagship,” for mangrove regeneration by the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). These

The Insatiable Shobhaa De.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with the fearless and fabulous Shobha De. Her insatiable zest for life is contagious; forget wanting to be like her when I am 76 – I want to be like her now. A total fangirl in her presence, typically guilty of interrupting others to get a word in, I found myself content as the listener, while simply soaking up her energy.

Heir, Spare and the Heartache of the Bromance

Like the rest of the world, I probably have had my fill of the headlines of the trials and tribulations of the dynamics between the two British royal siblings.

NFTs: Farce or the Future?

If your house was burning down, what would you try to take with you as you ran out? For many of us, and I am dating myself here,

Paradise Disrupted

In the last 25 years, this small island has repeatedly re-emerged; it has suffered a brutal civil war, devastating tsunami, heinous terrorist attacks, inter-faith strife, political crises, global pandemic, economic collapse and now peaceful protests turned violent.

Change is Constant; Communication Should Be Too

As I boarded the flight to New York from Sri Lanka in April 2021, I envisioned how my beloved NYC would look after the battering it took due to the pandemic.

Sri Lankan Superfoods

As a former New Yorker, it’s practically in my DNA to look for the next hot new table in town. When I lived in NYC, I always wanted to eat at the place where, either it was almost impossible to get a reservation, or the neighborhood “hole in the wall” that didn’t even take reservations.

WHEN A CHILD ENCOUNTERS RACISM

When my son was five years old, a fellow camper said to him that he “wasn’t any colour on the rainbow.” According to his little friend, this meant that he was an alien.

A Treasure Island Called Home

Like most of us, it has now been a year since I left Sri Lankan soil. A New Yorker, turned islander, I have lived in this tropical paradise for over 12 years, but, truth be told, I really never immersed myself in island life so completely before, as I have in this past year.

LESSONS IN QUARANTINE FROM SRI LANKA

Just over a year ago, those of us in Sri Lanka were under curfew after the tragic Easter terrorist attacks on the paradise island we call home. Schools were closed for weeks; when they reopened, students had to wear transparent backpacks, facilitating an easier check for weapons or explosives. I had to explain the grim realities of terrorism to m

Paradise Is Bleeding

A lifelong New Yorker, I moved to Sri Lanka in 2008, when it was in the midst of a brutal and seemingly never-ending civil war. I quickly became accustomed to carrying my passport and stopping at checkpoints every few miles, where army officers would point their rifles into my car, checking for anything suspicious. I internalized the fear that a bus next to me could possibly explode with a bomb