Cartier, which opened at V&A South Kensington on 12 April 2025, marks the UK!s first major exhibition dedicated to the Maison in nearly 30 years. Designed by British designer and artist Asif Khan MBE, the exhibition features over 350 historical objects—including royal tiaras, priceless jewels, archival drawings, and iconic timepieces—set within a series of immersive, contemplative environments. Khan!s scenography employs light, sound, and spatial rhythm to cultivate a
reflective atmosphere that encourages emotional resonance and a deeper sensory connection with the objects on display. The project marks the latest in a series of landmark collaborations between Cartier and artists around the world, continuing the Maison!s long-standing tradition of working closely with visionaries to explore the meaning and experience of its heritage. For Khan, the project was about creating “a state of mind in which the objects could be felt as much as seen.”
His approach was shaped by a personal interest in sacred spaces—their light, form, scale, and stillness. "I wanted to create a series of spaces that gently shift the pace of the visitor,” he explains, "so that by the time they have made their first steps into the exhibition, they!ve entered a quieter state—more open to sensing time, memory and meaning in the pieces.”
As visitors move through the exhibition, they pass through a sequence of carefully orchestrated environments—each offering a subtle shift in atmosphere. One opens to a forest scene at dawn, offering space to pause and reflect. Another evokes a reimagined cosmos in the form of an orrery around the Manchester Tiara illuminated by candlelight. A gently curving wall is punctuated by coloured light filtering through niches, casting soft pools across the floor. Within each niche is a jewel that traces Cartier!s long history of interaction with royalty, from the British crown to the Maharajas of India. A spectrum of colour moves across the space—from the twilight of Windsor to the warm dusk of Delhi. The atmosphere is held in suspension by Saans Lo ("Breathe”), an ambient instrumental composition by Arooj Aftab that invites stillness, contemplation and the quiet presence of forgotten voices. A circular hall recalls the memory of a grand gathering of tiaras at a ball, shimmering in time with the gentle andante of Shostakovich!s Piano Concerto No. 2.
At the centre of the exhibition, a 40-metre panoramic window frames drifting clouds. Over 140 Cartier objects and archival drawings appear within this atmospheric field which crosses the world and time—like recollections suspended in mist. The soundscape here was composed by Khan using field recordings captured by a test pilot from within the clouds themselves.
Elsewhere, the ticking of a Cartier watch mechanism—recorded by Khan and slowed to match the rhythm of a sleeping human heart—encourages a deeper awareness of time!s passage. Near the exhibition!s close, a single tiara appears to hover in a cloud of water vapour, evoking the Sufi concept of hīch, or "nothingness.” This ephemeral moment offers a space beyond material form: a brief encounter with absence, stillness, and presence.