“PARIS, VU DU 26” BOUCHERON’S NEW HIGH JEWELLERY COLLECTION: a stylistic dialogue between 26 Place Vendôme and Paris.Writer: Olivier Dupon

Place Vendôme and Paris, the French capital, like you have never before experienced them.

It is Paris, the epicentre of sublime architecture and pro-fuse art; it is 26, Place Vendôme, the historical location of the Boucheron Maison, the recently renovated hôtel par-ticulier that has been Boucheron’s flagship since 1893. The two are inherently linked in perfect unison with each other. Zoom in, zoom out: a timeless conversation between a city and one of its finest locations.

“Paris, vu du 26”, the new haute joaillerie collection of Boucheron, is indeed as much an artful and artistic exercise as it is a re-affirmation of the House’s fundamentals. A col-lection anchored in Boucheron’s history. For one, its name is a back-to-where-it-all-started proclamation. A rejuvenat-ed 26, Place Vendôme sits on the most luminous corner of the eponymous square, and to this day is the symbol of a jeweller who got there first. In 1893, Frédéric Boucheron was indeed the first to set up on what would become the world’s haute joaillerie epicentre. Admittedly “Paris, vu du 26” is an homage to Paris’s architectural fabric, yet funda-mentally it is an exploration of the house’s archetypal inspi-rations, an exercise in design pared down to a simple mes-sage: ‘Here is the spirit of our remarkable house’.

On a glorious day, the grande dame Place Vendôme is bathed in sunlight as our backdrop, I had the privilege of interview-ing Claire Choisne, a trained jewellery maker (essential in helping one understand how highly complex designs can look so magnificently effortless) and Boucheron’s creative director since 2011. In the following Q&A, she exclusive-ly shares her insights into the “Paris, vu du 26” Collection, another master class on how to turn dreams into three di-mensional marvels.

Portrait of Claire Choisne, Boucheron creative director.

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Olivier Dupon – “Paris, vu du 26” is a tribute to the rebirth of 26, Place Vendôme, Boucheron’s historical address. How have you been able to in-clude symbols from the past into compositions that are squarely looking towards the future?

Claire Choisne – When we started thinking about the collection, the planning of the renovation of 26, Place Vendôme, was in full swing. When choosing the theme for the new high jewellery collection (a two-year-in-advance process), it quickly occurred to us that the best way to play our part in the whole refurbishment plan was to design a high jewellery collection celebrat-ing that same project. It was also the opportu-nity to return to our roots, our Parisian roots, which led to our Place Vendôme roots and sub-sequently number 26; and there we had found the three defining chapters of the collection.

This progression (from a city perspective to our address on Place Vendôme) led to an acknowl-edgement that architecture was the common thread and therefore the main concept for the new collection. Of course, our take on Parisian architecture is not literal, but fantasised, almost exalted.

We focused on a limited number of monuments from the capital, stripped down their architec-ture to extract a detail, a motif with significant aesthetic value and resonance to our house. Of course, this also included motifs found directly from our own hôtel particulier.

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Armoiries long necklace (with details -shown) in yellow gold set with one 32.22-carat pear-shaped imperial topaz and paved with diamonds. Necklace in the tradition of the multiwear. Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

Olivier Dupon – Has the renovation shaped your working conditions in any way?

Claire Choisne – Since I joined the company 8 years ago, the creative studio has always been on the top floor of the building and we are so blessed that, except for a few minor upgrades, it has not changed since the ren-ovation. Besides, the workshop has always been below us and this also has not changed. Overall, we were not dramatically impacted while the renovation was taking place, except when they tackled the structural work and we naturally had to move out for a little while.

Duo Taille Emeraude rings in white gold with black lacquer set with respectively one 31.03-carat emerald-cut and one 32.50-carat emerald-cut yellow beryls, onyx and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

Taille Emeraude ring in yellow gold set with one 13.76-carat heliodor beryl, one citrine and rock crystal; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

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Olivier Dupon – Throughout the collec-tion’s three chapters, we are invited on a Parisian odyssey. Can you explain the con-cept of ‘zoom in / zoom out’ that is at the core of this collection?

Claire Choisne – “Paris, vu du 26” is truly a mise en abyme. It is not about a romantic stroll around the French capital; it is rather a targeted zoom in on 26, Place Vendôme from the wider perspective of the city. In other words, think about a cinematic ap-proach where the eye would travel from a wide angle and then zoom in to one spot.

Experimenting with proportions has always been key to our repertoire. This particular trait (the zoom in effect) is not something that can be found in our archive; it is more a personal interest of mine, and it is true that it is even applied to some of our high jewellery creations.

In the past, we had the Flocon Impérial (“Hiver Impérial High Jewelry Collection”) or Hôtel Particulier necklaces (“26 Vendôme High Jewelry Collection”), where miniature worlds were nestled inside rock crystals.

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Verrière necklace (with matching earrings - shown), in white gold and

titanium, set with emerald beads, with dome-puffed glass, paved with

diamonds. Necklace in the tradition of multiwear. Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry

Collection. POA.

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Verrière necklace (with matching earrings - shown), in white gold and titanium, set with emerald beads, with dome-puffed glass, paved with diamonds. Necklace in the tradition of multiwear. Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

This year, the glass dome of the Grand Palais in Paris was one of our inspirations. The transformable Verrière necklace (with matching earrings) is a multi-strand piece of emerald tassels whose lower pompon freely hangs from a miniature hand-blown conservatory, which upon closer inspection contains a magical tropical garden inside. I have actually encouraged our workshop to achieve as much intricacy in the details as possible and titani-um, thanks to its hardness, enabled them to even re-create tiny grass stems…little surprises which are hidden from direct view. You cannot go deeper into a piece than that; and this is inher-ent in our conception of high jewellery: to continue to push the boundaries of what is feasible.

Olivier Dupon – In Boucheron’s high jewel-lery collections technical prowess abounds. Technique versus creativity: which serves which?

Claire Choisne – Technique is at the service of our creativity. It always comes from a “what if” proposition. In last year’s “Nature Triomphante Collection”, the idea was to make Nature eternal, especially in a series of nine rings, each with a flower captured in a permanent state. First, we medically scanned real flowers to seize their actual volumes, onto which we applied real pet-als that were then preserved.

In this year’s Feuilles de Laurier necklace, the process is similar however we stopped at scanning, in order to obtain the volume and get a resin replica. Then we applied 8-tenths of a mm thick mother-of-pearl leaves – so thin that they are translucent – directly onto the metal. This experimenta-tion takes time and thankfully high jewel-lery is all about being resilient and patient.

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Feuilles de Laurier necklace (and matching ring – shown) in white gold with mother-of-pearl, Akoya cultured pearls, and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

Olivier Dupon – How does Boucheron haute joail- lerie contribute to the safekeeping of the rare métiers d’art?

Claire Choisne – The preservation of the métiers d’art is close to my heart. After all, I am not a designer but a jeweller by trade. My idea is to maintain the tradition-al techniques (e.g. the wonderful en-tremblant) all the while inciting our craftsmen to experiment with new techniques, potentially borrowed from other industries. It is essential to broaden our horizon, and not be back-ward-looking; continuously improving our mastered techniques while injecting novelty along the way.

We try to achieve as much as possible in-house; For the Verrière necklace (previously mentioned), our gold-smith had to learn how to blow glass by hand, even though this is not a jewellery making technique per se. That said when it comes to very specialised métier d’art (e.g. glyptography), we resort to third parties, ex-perts in their domain. It is important to support them so we can continue to aim at ambitious projects.

Perspective bracelet in white gold set with one 20.45-carat emerald-cut sapphire from Ceylon, onyx, baguette-cut diamonds and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

Perspective ring in white gold and black lacquer set with one emerald-cut sapphire from Ceylon, onyx, baguette-cut diamonds and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

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Pavé de Cristal necklace in white gold set with one 2.68-carat F IF pear-shaped diamond, baguette-cut diamonds, rock crystal and paved with diamonds. Necklace in the tradition of the multiwear. Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

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Olivier Dupon – “Paris, vu du 26” seems to play on duality: on one hand extreme refinement of the organic motifs, on the other hand, sophisticated geometry. How do you reconcile the two so perfectly?

Claire Choisne – At Boucheron, the duality between geometrical and organic is natural. When one browses through 160 years of in-house archives, one quick-ly realises that all aesthetic trends have been addressed (Empire, Neo-classical, Art Nouveau, etc). There have not been any creative restrictions, and this has engendered a sheer abundance of styles. In turn, this has enabled the creative team to work on umpteen themes while never diverting from the said archives. This is the reason why our collections at times include pieces with Art Deco ge-ometry while others will be more organic. The guiding traits for all is the ‘typi-cally Boucheron’ sense of refinement. Once again, the jewellers on our creative team are used to working at a 1/10th scale, and so excelling with intricacies is the prerequisite for refinement.

Olivier Dupon – In your iconic “Animaux de Collection” range, and all your oth-er animalistic designs, how do you cap-ture so well the spirit and character of the animals?

Claire Choisne – In the same vein as our iconic ever-growing “Animaux de Collection”, the Cheval de l’Opéra brace-let borrows from our expertise in captur-ing the liveliness of animals, and inject-ing it into our precious renditions. For this exceptional piece, we looked for animals that were linked to architecture and the Pegasus statues that sit on the rooftop of the Opera Garnier were selected. The cuff is architectural as we worked the two horse heads in symmetry. Moreover, the heads are carved into an opaque, frosted crystal that evokes the original plaster.

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Cheval de l’Opéra bracelet in yellow gold and frosted quartz set with

baguette-cut diamonds and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High

Jewelry Collection. POA.

Wladimir 1er ring in white gold set with black sapphires and emeralds and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

Wladimir II ring in white gold set with tourmalines, a pink sapphire and black sapphires, paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

As far as our more naturalistic fauna creations go, it is all about achieving the right allure and attitude. For the Wladimir 1er and II rings (Wladimir is actually our mascot, the in-house black cat that has even been featured in several of our campaigns), we re-defined his facial features and kept his necklace. Getting the right expression was paramount; the difference be-tween make or break. It is always possible to draw the perfect face, but way more challenging to create it in three dimensions. In this ring, we paid exceptional attention to the cat’s gaze. The eyes are made of onyx for the pupil, green tourmaline for the iris and rock crystal for the sclera. It took three components inlaid in one another to get it just right. Overall, it is true that the eyes are just a detail, but what an important one: Wladimir literal-ly stares at us.

Sometimes we even fine tune reality to accentuate a trait, such as in our Nara the Doe ring whose lines are slightly elongated to add even more finesse.

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Olivier Dupon – How has the stunning Nuri earrings found their way into a collection about architecture?

Claire Choisne – Nuri earrings were directly inspired by the Winter Garden at 26, Place Vendôme. The par-rot is a fantasied resident of the latter. It is designed in titanium as if taking flight. It embraces the contour of the ear, main body on top and tail feathers on the bot-tom. The feathers are mobile, and the overall impact is startling. Part headdress, part earring, it is testament to our creative freedom. This type of earrings is not necessarily a generational choice, it is above all for to-day’s women.

We always work on how to style our high jewellery piec-es, investigating atypical ways of wearing them, how our collectors will be able to don their jewel and find their signature style.

Nuri earrings in white and yellow gold, titanium and black lacquer set with one pear-shaped aquamarine, one pear-shaped heliodor beryl, multi-coloured sapphires, tsavorites, onyx and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

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Olivier Dupon – Frédéric Boucheron was a pioneer, especially when it came to imagining new ways of wearing jewellery. The question mark necklace is a prime example, both in terms of comfort and style. How is this particular legacy carried forward in “Paris, vu du 26”?

Claire Choisne – The Jack Box is almost the ultimate proposition regarding this. Our recently launched Jack fine jewellery collection appeals to all age groups, and here in the high jewellery category, the idea is to ele-vate Jack to a more couture function. The marquetry Jack Box contains 26 brooches (the Jack signature clasp and 26 for ‘26 Place Vendôme’, our address) and some of them can be worn as earrings. That said, this is not set in stone, and the Jack Box is the opportu-nity for our collectors to play and style themselves in unexpected ways (furthermore, it is exactly the same freedom that the Jack fine jewellery line offers).

As a trial, we have ourselves styled several brooch-es on a lapel, and in a more radical way, at the back of a black dress along the spine. The latter creates golden illusionary vertebras, a sensational, almost futuristic look.

Jack Box in black lacquer, mother-of-pearl and wood containing 26 brooches in yellow gold set with paved with diamonds. Brooches in the tradition of the multiwear. Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

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Olivier Dupon – Being an homage to Parisian architecture, can you please choose one exam-ple where an architectural inspiration has led to a breath-taking rendition?

Claire Choisne – The Colonne D’Acanthe neck-lace is an ode to femininity and despite its more ‘masculine’ inspiration, Greco-Roman style col-umns and their Acanthus leaf motifs. The chal-lenge was turning a monumental, quite rigid and cold commodity into a fluid and feminine neck-piece. Straight away, we decided to have a lar-iat necklace with a pompon that would evoke the column itself. Strands of white fresh wa-ter pearls are held together at the top, while at the bottom they can freely sway, so that we removed the rigidity attached to a proper col-umn and replaced it with fluidity. It is then sur-mounted by a symmetrical composition of dia-mond-paved acanthus leaves made of gold. A sense of softness ensues.

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Colonne D’Acanthe necklace in white gold set with one

1.58-carat F VVS2 marquise-cut diamond, fresh water white

pearl, mother of pearl and diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High

Jewelry Collection. POA.

Olivier Dupon – What has been the most challenging, yet satisfying creation?

Claire Choisne – In the third and last Chapter (the one about 26, Place Vendôme), the 26V necklace is the pièce de résistance as it celebrates our address. As such, it had to be our ultimate technical challenge. This is all about research and development; the fulfilment of one of my dreams. I have indeed always wanted to create a mystical gemstone from scratch, a pure product of my imagination. Normally we jewellers pick a gemstone and work with it. Here, the composition is the invention of our own gemstone.

Gemstone lovers also like to look inside the gemstones and discover the garden of an emerald for instance, or in my case, the clouds of rock crystal. What would one see when looking into our dreamed gemstone? A sym-bol of our House, as much physically as spiritually.

The heart of 26, Place Vendôme is the grand spiral stair-case that serves all the floors and salons, and the source of inspiration for that symbol. When looking into our gemstone, I wanted people to see depth and steps made of onyx, white agate (cacholong) and rock crystal. It is not an optical illusion, but three dimensional marque-try, where there is no place to hide a mistake (the rock crystal is transparent). It looks effortless but it is truly one of the most complex technical feats we have had to realise. I have no qualms about thinking that a proj-ect will be time consuming. This is the price to pay to achieve excellence and our dreams.

Le 26V ring in white gold and titanium set with one 4.08-carat round F VVS2 brilliant-cut diamond, onyx, rock crystal, cacholong

and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.

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Le 26V necklace in white gold set with one 5.32-carat F VVS2 round brilliant-cut diamond, onyx, rock crystal, cacholong and paved with diamonds; Paris, vu du 26 High Jewelry Collection. POA.