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.”
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
'The Batman'
Stars:Robert Pattinson
Director:Matt Reeves
Rating: 5/5
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Checks continue
A High Court judge issued an interim order on Friday suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.
Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review of the minister's unilateral action this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
SUNDAY'S ABU DHABI T10 MATCHES
Northern Warriors v Team Abu Dhabi, 3.30pm
Bangla Tigers v Karnataka Tuskers, 5.45pm
Qalandars v Maratha Arabians, 8pm
In The Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda
Rating: ****
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%3A
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Envision%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EKarthik%20Mahadevan%20and%20Karthik%20Kannan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20The%20Netherlands%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Technology%2FAssistive%20Technology%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%241.5%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2020%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Seed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204impact%2C%20ABN%20Amro%2C%20Impact%20Ventures%20and%20group%20of%20angels%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
FIXTURES (all times UAE)
Sunday
Brescia v Lazio (3.30pm)
SPAL v Verona (6pm)
Genoa v Sassuolo (9pm)
AS Roma v Torino (11.45pm)
Monday
Bologna v Fiorentina (3.30pm)
AC Milan v Sampdoria (6pm)
Juventus v Cagliari (6pm)
Atalanta v Parma (6pm)
Lecce v Udinese (9pm)
Napoli v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
More from UAE Human Development Report:
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Top 5 concerns globally:
1. Unemployment
2. Spread of infectious diseases
3. Fiscal crises
4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
1. Energy price shock
2. Fiscal crises
3. Spread of infectious diseases
4. Unmanageable inflation
5. Cyber attacks
Source: World Economic Foundation
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
