Pop colors, extravagant volumes, basic silhouettes, simple. In the effervescence of 26 Place Vendôme, the studio of Boucheron is elated by the impulse of their Creative Director.
Like the pages of a teenage diary, the mood boards are filled with pop colors, joyful looks, geometric designs and motifs. Spheres, cubes, flat. Cheeky mixes, XXL smiles, life in Technicolor: memories appear on the surface, as the outlines of a new High Jewelry emerge. Drawing its energy from the influence of pop art, the soft rebellion of the Memphis artists and the illusion of perspectives liberated from any rule. Transforming reality into a world that rewrites joy.
A gigantic bow in the hair, defying the laws of gravity? Excessive necklaces, covering the whole chest? Jewels that move within two dimensions, springing from their box like mischievous sketches suddenly appearing from paper… And why not?
Everything is possible… with new materials and with the technical innovations of a studio perpetually dedicated to creativity, to the search for the perfect shape and the most rigorous setting of gemstones. Especially when it is all about glorifying enthusiasm, joy, and emotion. What is precious if it is not about these core values, which make the world go round… And that Maison Boucheron has continuously celebrated for 165 years.
The exceptional pieces of the “More is More” collection are true jewels of technicality, experimentation, machining. They are an ode to boldness as much as High Jewelry, through the assembling of materials, stones, diamonds, and colors.
By pushing the boundaries of High Jewelry, with the greatest respect to its values, and by questioning the meaning of precious, these creations take us far away. Where innocence welcomes beauty without any constraints, where enchantment dwells, where sophistication looks easy and the world exhilarating.
TIE THE KNOT
The wild dream
A gigantic bow in the hair: red on one side, black and white stripes – mimicking the “gros grain” code of Boucheron – on the other. Supple like cloth, light as a cartoon that would suddenly appear in real life.
Ultra-light ambition
Set with diamonds and white gold, Tie the Knot magnifies High Jewelry by deploying its 29cm of pure poetry. Like a trompe l’oeil, floating mischievously on the side of the head, weighing only 94 grams: a prowess, that makes us forget its technical complexity. A fantasy comes true.
A technical challenge
- The red part of the bow is made with bio acetate, a favorite of eyeglass manufacturers: it is weightless and offers this shade – as close as it gets to the color of an iconic soda. Bio acetate is made from wood paste and cotton fibers, mixing lightness and sustainability, thanks to producing methods respectful of the environment.
- An exclusive in the world of High Jewelry, magnesium as a metal completes this technical prowess, on the back of the piece. Magnesium is 30% as light as aluminum and its density is ten times as light as gold. This new material required our craftsmen’s agility and for them to exceed their abilities. The delicate strips of this fantasy bow were first shaped, then dyed black by a cataphoresis treatment, before being set. A challenge when applied to this material, on which it would be impossible to resolder a claw, should it break during the setting process.
- The 200 parts necessary to the creation of this jewel were all carefully worked separately, then assembled, ensuring the final piece’s resilience as well as an aerial flexibility. The borders were dyed black, like a felt pen underlining the outlines of the reliefs to trick the eye.
Brooch paved with diamonds, in red bio-acetate and magnesium.
Brooch made in the tradition of multi-wear pieces.
THIS IS NOT A RING / THIS IS NOT A SCRUNCHIE
The wild dream
Jewels become objets d’art – with simple shapes, bright colors and revisited perspectives. Spheres, cubes, graphic stripes: pop and geometric pieces, that would have escaped from a 70s art gallery.
The tricking of images
This is not a ring. This is not a scrunchie. It is actually both, and so much more: a work of art. Surrealism emerges from these tiny pieces, made with a huge mastery of craftsmanship. Moving lines, letting their joy spread on the fingers or in the hair: modern art and High Jewelry interacting, blending, and having fun.
A technical challenge
- 6 rings, graphic and light. 4 of which have extraordinary volumes, with a quirky and provocative balance. A geometric scrunchie defying the laws of High Jewelry.
- Black, white, red, or blue lacquer fills these aerial rings. On these rings, a yellow diamond and sapphire sphere lies delicately, along with a rock crystal and white gold cube, outlined by titanium and resin.
- On another ring, the Italian glass of Murano – made on this island by artisans – shines through a hypnotic blue. It is engraved with the most extreme precision, making that piece the most precious cube.
A two-finger resin ring displays a majestic rock crystal sphere, taking center stage. This sphere is carved, its linings made of yellow diamonds and its heart filled with yellow sapphires. At its side, a black titanium and diamond cube completes the geometric harmony of this jewel, which is both technically and visually exceptional.
IN THE POCKET + AN APPLE A DAY
The wild dream
A neo-parure. Nonchalance feigned by a hand slipped into a High Jewelry pocket, adaptable to be worn on any garment. The final touch to this picture is a bracelet, shaped as a perfect sphere.
High Jewelry is stylish
Who said that a parure should be composed of a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet? In the Pocket makes light of conventions. It creates an attitude and a succession of emotions, drawn from the discovery of the richness of its pieces – enhanced by the preciousness of their nonconformism.
A technical challenge
- Slipping one’s adorned hand in a precious pocket and giving metal the suppleness of cloth: this may have been one of the greatest challenges posed to the ateliers.
The 3D printed titanium elements of this precious pocket are mounted on stretch fabric. From the back of the wearer’s garment, a magnet fits the structure: secretly fixing this incredible jewel, which delicately blends with the cloth.
- Multiwear, which is dear to Maison Boucheron, is celebrated here through a tsavorite and black lacquer sphere. A true objet d’art, turning into a cuff bracelet and two rings when the sphere is dismantled: making it a spectacular four-in-one creation, celebrating savoir-faire and creativity.
- Titanium was chosen to constitute the structure of the sphere: it was anodized to ensure the most precise color treatment.
Clothing jewel set with onyx, paved with diamonds, and decorated with lacquer, in titanium and white gold.
Bracelet paved with tsavorites, and decorated with lacquer, in titanium and white gold. Bracelet in the tradition of multi-wear.
PULL ME
The wild dream
Who said hoodie strings could not be appropriate in High Jewelry? Why don’t we invent new codes for the precious? Here is a way to invest the most contemporary looks, from the most daily life, inspired by the design of the now iconic Jack.
Le street chic
Daring High Jewelry, radiating on a hoodie; leaving hushed salons and great parties to be displayed on a redefined masculinity. Bursting into the light, drawing attention. Displaying, in this manner, its sensational preciousness.
A technical challenge
- A 40 cm long jewel, to be fixed – like a brooch – on the base of the hood.
- A multiwear piece: strings become long earrings, or stud earrings entirely paved with diamonds. Duos can have fun sharing this playful piece, wearing it like a bonded manifesto. While one can wear it alone however they want, on any occasion.
- Citrine, diamonds, black lacquer, onyx, white opal, yellow gold, titanium, aluminum: a whole palette of technical and precious materials. Put together, they allow the blooming of this jewelry oddity.
Clothing jewels set with citrines, onyx, and cacholongs, paved with diamonds, and decorated with lacquer, in white gold, yellow gold and titanium.
Earrings version, in the tradition of multiwear.
JUST AN ILLUSION
The wild dream
A prodigious linked necklace, covering the whole chest. Like a comic book element overlaying reality. Imposing its quirky, cartoonish esthetics through a light, flat High Jewelry piece: a true trompe-l’oeil.
The charm of an illusion
Orange and blue: these opposing colors share the same space on this oversized neo-necklace. It is extravagant and mischievous, stretching beauty like it stretches scales.
A technical challenge
- The base
of the piece, in titanium, makes this necklace much lighter than one would
expect.
- The colors are made of blue, white, and black Hyceram: these colors were applied by laser, so as to rub out any separation between them, resulting in a “seamless” aspect.
These huge chain links look convex, although they are flat, and are striped on their back.
- The orange chain links are paved with mandarin garnets, set with round diamonds, and thinly lined by black lacquer. They overlook a row of what gives the illusion of baguette diamonds – shaped in rock crystal.
Necklace paved with diamonds, spessartite mandarin garnets, set with rock crystal, and decorated with hyceram, in titanium and white gold.
SOLVE ME
The wild dream
Deconstructing the 80s most famous puzzle to turn it into a High Jewelry piece. Playfulness and esthetics coming together, bringing back memories of the fabulous geometry of this iconic object.
A puzzle around the neck
Shimmery cubes, all different, replace the curvy lines of a classic necklace, calling in the fun and the happiness of childhood.
A technical challenge
- A necklace made of cubes of different materials and colors. A necklace that is light and supple, contrary to its architecture and apparent rigidity.
- Materials, colors, and esthetics are what form the pattern of this necklace: like a deconstructed toy of 21 precious cubes, alternating grey and pink spinels, pink sapphires, and diamonds.
- Like the cubes of the original puzzle, every facet of Solve Me has a different color. Creating this unique piece, which arouses unprecedented emotions, was a wonderful challenge both technically and artistically.
Necklace paved with diamonds, grey spinels, pink sapphires, and set with mother-of-pearl, in aluminum and white gold.
PUISSANCE QUATRE
The wild dream
XXL pop Quatre cuffs, shining with the iconic designs of the Maison: gros-grain, clou de Paris, diamond line and double-gadroon.
Braving weightlessness
Legacy and boldness blending on the wrists, in the most obvious manner. The Maison’s Quatre icon singing an ode to joy, enhanced by technical performances from which only freedom is to be seen as a result.
A technical challenge
- On the first row, aluminum replaces gold – being 8 times as light. The black and white gros-grain is hand lacquered, both on the outside and on the inside of the jewel.
- On the second row, 134 diamonds are set on aluminum: a prowess which required every piece to be made in triplicate – should any claw break during the setting process, the design would have needed to be started again from scratch.
This is why setting stones on aluminum is a technique which is rarely used.
- On the third row, red, blue, and green lacquer replace the Clou de Paris motif.
- Two of these cuffs display a last row made of a resin and aluminum double-gadroon motif. On the third cuff, this last row is made of aluminum and set with a total of 200 diamonds.
For more information, please visit https://www.boucheron.com/us/
