At the entrance of the exhibition hosted at L’Ecole Middle East, there is a large black-and-white photograph of Yves Gastou, the storied French collector. Grey-haired, urbane and sporting an open-necked shirt, he looks exactly how you’d imagine him to from his reputation as one of the most tasteful collectors in Europe. It is only on closer inspection that you notice his surprising stacks of heavy silver rings – brandished like knuckle dusters.
“My father was very interested in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, but rock ‘n’ roll was part of his personality,” explains his son Victor Gastou, who is in Dubai for the opening of the Men’s Rings, Yves Gastou Collection exhibition, which runs until April 26 in Dubai Design District.
A collector known for his impeccable and wildly eclectic taste, Yves Gastou was able to mix opposites effortlessly – think an 18th-century table with a Ron Arad chair – creating a new form of chic. Yves collected furniture and objets d’art for love, not trends. Nowhere is this more apparent than his personal collection of rings, which feature in the exhibition.
“My father used to go to communion, when you take the bread, and he went up four or five times,” explains Gastou’s son. “His mother took him by the hand and asked ‘Why are you going so many times?’ And he answered, ‘The priest has such a beautiful ring.’” He went on to gather about 1,000 rings during his lifetime.
The exhibition features about 700 of those, divided into groups that follow Yves’s interests – history, gothic, Christian mysticism, vanitas and eclecticism. “The ring is a very powerful object in meaning,” says Victor. “Engagement rings have existed in human history for a very long time.”
Dating back millennia, the oldest ring on display is a cameo of a lion, Victor explains. “It’s not a precious stone, but you can see the talent of the sculptor.” Throughout history, rings have been used for rituals – proclamations of love or power, or even as a glimpse into the afterlife. Case in point, a plum-sized Doge’s ring that would have been used to add legitimacy to official documents, here seated next to mourning rings, which featured tiny portraits to commemorate a loved one who had died or lived far away.
The collection was not just for show either, as Yves wore many of them throughout his life. “He used to have 50 rings that he kept at home, and he used to play with a combination depending on what he was going to do,” explains Victor.
A free-wheeling soul, Yves’s fascination for men’s rings is perhaps a reflection of his wider ability to unearth furniture, sculpture and artworks that others had overlooked, his son explains. “He said that beautiful things were within us. It’s also a way to show how open-minded you are, because if you can appreciate all periods in history, you’ve been doing your research.”
Having grown up around museum-worthy furniture and art, the Gastou children had no idea how remarkable their surroundings were until much later in life. “I worked in China and hated it, so I came back to Paris and I said, ‘Can I come to the gallery and maybe find something to do?’ When I stepped into the gallery, I never came back,” explains Victor. “It was like a tornado of discovery, amazing stories.” He has run the gallery since his father’s death in 2020.
Victor can easily identify his father’s favourite ring in the vast collection, pointing to a slightly sinister gargoyle with a crystal in its mouth. “He used to wear it every day.” Around it are more rings depicting skulls, bats and even coffins that verge on the macabre. “Yves liked these very much, although they are a little more shocking. It’s easier to accept the idea of death if you have it with you every day.”
But there was a less philosophical side to skull rings that drew Yves in. “American culture, the ’70s and movies like Easy Rider,” explains Victor. “He was a free spirit. One day, my father wanted to take a picture with bikers, so we went to find some Hells Angels in Paris. It ended with us running out of there, because Yves kept grabbing the bikers’ hands to look at their rings. They wanted to beat us up, it was terrible,” he laughs.
Having lived with these rings all his life, it is easy to imagine it would be hard for Victor to choose a favourite, but he turns immediately to an elaborately carved gold ecclesiastical piece. “In the 1970s, there was a decree to change the look of the church. No more bling bling,” he explains. This left the official jeweller to the church with highly intricate rings that were no longer in vogue.
“It was like old stock, nobody wanted it any more,” recalls Victor. Yves saw an opportunity and approached the maison to see if he could buy some of the unwanted rings. “They sold him a lot of pieces, but only by the weight of the gold. And I remember him coming back and laughing like a crazy man, saying: ‘How stupid they are. They sold me a treasure for nothing.’ All because nobody wanted it.” It was clearly a thrill.
In the centre of the exhibition is a tall perspex box into which 200 or so rings have been roughly heaped onto narrow shelves. “We wanted to finish with getting inside the mind of the collector,” explains Victor.
With the rings thrown in haphazardly, visitors are left to find a piece that catches their eye. “We wanted to give the thrill of finding something, so you search and if you find something – that’s your discovery.”
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
The specs
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
MATCH INFO
Qalandars 112-4 (10 ovs)
Banton 53 no
Northern Warriors 46 all out (9 ovs)
Kumara 3-10, Garton 3-10, Jordan 2-2, Prasanna 2-7
Qalandars win by six wickets
Lowest Test scores
26 - New Zealand v England at Auckland, March 1955
30 - South Africa v England at Port Elizabeth, Feb 1896
30 - South Africa v England at Birmingham, June 1924
35 - South Africa v England at Cape Town, April 1899
36 - South Africa v Australia at Melbourne, Feb. 1932
36 - Australia v England at Birmingham, May 1902
36 - India v Australia at Adelaide, Dec. 2020
38 - Ireland v England at Lord's, July 2019
42 - New Zealand v Australia in Wellington, March 1946
42 - Australia v England in Sydney, Feb. 1888
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The full list of 2020 Brit Award nominees (winners in bold):
British group
Coldplay
Foals
Bring me the Horizon
D-Block Europe
Bastille
British Female
Mabel
Freya Ridings
FKA Twigs
Charli xcx
Mahalia
British male
Harry Styles
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Michael Kiwanuka
Stormzy
Best new artist
Aitch
Lewis Capaldi
Dave
Mabel
Sam Fender
Best song
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber - I Don’t Care
Mabel - Don’t Call Me Up
Calvin Harrison and Rag’n’Bone Man - Giant
Dave - Location
Mark Ronson feat. Miley Cyrus - Nothing Breaks Like A Heart
AJ Tracey - Ladbroke Grove
Lewis Capaldi - Someone you Loved
Tom Walker - Just You and I
Sam Smith and Normani - Dancing with a Stranger
Stormzy - Vossi Bop
International female
Ariana Grande
Billie Eilish
Camila Cabello
Lana Del Rey
Lizzo
International male
Bruce Springsteen
Burna Boy
Tyler, The Creator
Dermot Kennedy
Post Malone
Best album
Stormzy - Heavy is the Head
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka
Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent
Dave - Psychodrama
Harry Styles - Fine Line
Rising star
Celeste
Joy Crookes
beabadoobee
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
