In October 2001, an innovative six-month ethnographic and archaeological exhibition opened at the British Museum. Preparations took conservators on a journey into the unknown, across continents and into related professional areas, to select and prepare objects for display. This paper will discuss how the exhibition came to fruition and the remarkable collaboration between people from dissimilar backgrounds, some with little exhibition experience: field archaeologists, ethnographers, business people and conservators with very different areas of knowledge and often without a common language. The involvement of the British Museum’s conservators at the earliest stages in planning was unusual, as the majority of objects being lent were from museums in Brazil and Europe. The benefits of early conservation input will be discussed, both in terms of the exhibition and of the conservators involved. This paper will demonstrate that conservators can make a unique contribution by using their specialist skills. -- SCMRE