In September, The National Art Center, Tokyo will become a prism. From 17 September to 15 December 2025, Bvlgari Kaleidos: Colours, Cultures and Crafts will unfold across its galleries, the Roman house’s largest exhibition ever staged in Japan. Supported by the Italian Embassy in Japan, it gathers nearly 350 pieces from the Bvlgari Heritage Collection, private collections and contemporary commissions in a constantly shifting exploration of craft and culture yes, but colour above all.
The name comes from the Greek “kalos” (meaning “beautiful”) and “eidos” (meaning “form”), a reminder that beauty here is in constant motion. Bvlgari mines its archive and history to chart a chromatic journey in three movements: The Science Of Colour, Colour Symbolism and The Power Of Light. Jean-Christophe Babin, the maison’s CEO, calls it “a celebration of our rich heritage, where every piece embodies a fusion of cultures, craftsmanship and a passion for the extraordinary colours created by nature… Tokyo, much like Bvlgari itself, celebrates the harmony between timeless tradition and bold innovation.”
Bvlgari’s own history with colour began quietly, with founder Sotirio Georgis Bulgari’s early fascination with stones. In the mid-20th century, that intrigue became a full-blown revolution. At a time when high jewellery leaned towards platinum and monochrome formality, the maison set sapphires, rubies and emeralds in yellow gold, diamonds glittering between them. It began to champion stones once dismissed as semi-precious – amethyst, citrine, turquoise – not for their rarity but for their chromatic force, their ability to catch and hold light. The cabochon cut became its signature, giving each gemstone a smooth, luminous surface that amplified its depth. This bold approach, still visible in Bvlgari creations today, is what secured its reputation as the master of coloured gemstones.
The first chapter of the exhibition, The Science of Colours, leans into that mastery with a citrine bracelet in gold and platinum from around 1940, never before shown outside Italy, its warm orange tones recalling a Roman sunset. A 1954 platinum bangle contrasts deep cabochon sapphires with rubies, the clash of red and blue sharpened by diamond light. Elsewhere, emeralds, amethysts, turquoises and diamonds are combined in a necklace-and-earring set that makes gemstone pairing feel like an act of daring. The display takes a scientific approach to chromatic effects, unveiling the interplay of hues through these glittering jewels.
Colour’s narrative power surfaces in the second movement, Colour Symbolism, where the cultural meanings of hue are as important as their visual impact. Jade pieces appear alongside the legendary Seven Wonders necklace of 1961, platinum strung with diamonds and seven emeralds of commanding presence. Once part of the Invernizzi collection, worn by Monica Vitti and Gina Lollobrigida, it returns to Tokyo for the first time in a decade.
In the final chapter, The Power of Light, precious metals and gems become surfaces for luminosity to play upon. A one-of-a-kind yellow gold sautoir from 1969, transformable into bracelets and set with amethysts, turquoises, citrines, rubies, emeralds and diamonds, embodies the kaleidoscopic spirit of the show. A Serpenti evening bag in three colours of gold with a silk cord and diamonds, created in 1978, carries the rare acqua di mare hue, its form a reminder that Bvlgari’s goldsmithing can rival its stone-setting in intricacy and allure.
Three contemporary artists join the dialogue. Italy-based Lara Favaretto’s Level Five reimagines industrial car-wash brushes as hypnotic, spinning sculptures in a study of colour, rhythm and movement. Japanese artist Mariko Mori’s Onogoro Stone III merges ancient Japanese myth with futuristic materials to create a contemplative space of cosmic balance. Also from Japan, Akiko Nakayama’s Echo brings water, mineral pigments and sound together in a live, shifting projection, a painting that breathes, mirroring the constant transformation of the gemstones it faces.
The exhibition’s scenography, by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of Sanaa with Italian design studio Formafantasma, folds together Roman mosaics and the form of Tokyo’s ginkgo leaf. Curves, translucent surfaces and shifting colour effects guide visitors through an environment that blends Roman identity with Japanese elegance. At the entrance, a gold paperweight shaped like a Roman temple, inlaid with lapis lazuli, onyx and diamonds, meets a circular mother-of-pearl brooch with polychrome enamels and diamonds, the two pieces holding between them the shared values of beauty, precision and craftsmanship. Ayako Miyajima, senior curator at the National Art Center, describes it as “a contemplative opportunity to encounter the maison’s singular creativity, which is open to a rich diversity of cultures through colour, its most symbolic and expressive lens.”
Photography courtesy of Bvlgari. Discover the exhibition here.
