Hollemans

Artist description

Belgian physicist of international renown, Joseph Plateau (1801 - 1883) is known as the inventor of the phenakistoscope, a distant ancestor of the Lumière brothers' cinema, which allows for "the synthesis of movement". And it is very logically that, since 1987, the Ghent Film Festival, which pays tribute to personalities who have contributed to the reputation of Belgian cinema by awarding them a special prize, the "Joseph Plateau Award".

It is within this event that the French actress Juliette Binoche was the first laureate of the Ghent Film Festival, for her performance as Rose, who, alongside Jean Reno, plays a depressed beautician in the film "Jet Lag" directed in the early 2000s by Danièle Thompson.

"At school, the prizes were never for me. So, I'm pleased to receive one in cinema," said the happy French actress receiving the "Joseph Plateau Award" in 2002; a prestigious award for her performance in this film.

The trophy is in the form of an imposing star-shaped jewel, whose multiple rays highlight the actress's talents, while evoking the jerky movements of the phenakistoscope.

The creation of this trophy is the result of close collaboration between Hollemans Jewelry in Brussels, and the Corsair Foundry in Fleurus, specializing for fifty years in metalworking. From a cast steel frame that served as the support for the trophy, the Corsair company, with its expertise, carried out a series of highly precise works for the creation of this prestigious jewel, using the most recent techniques, particularly in the field of electro-erosion.

For its part, Hollemans Jewelry ensured the finishing of the work, consisting of gold plating and lacquering the phenakistoscope, using a technique whose secret is jealously guarded by the Brussels company. As for the phenakistoscope, symbolized and placed at the center of the work, it represents an optical toy giving the illusion of movement, often attributed to retinal persistence.

This is a fine example of collaboration between a family business, constantly calling on the latest technologies in material work, whatever they may be, and a nearly century-old jewelry store whose concern is to offer jewelry whose finesse rivals with elegance. In other words, an alliance of two experts to pay tribute to a well-liked actress, a pioneering physicist, and, of course, the seventh art.