Each year, French high jewellery brand Boucheron further pushes the boundaries of craftsmanship and innovation with its Carte Blanche high jewellery collections.
With Creative Director Claire Choisne taking the lead, the collections often take ordinary elements such as air or water and create the almost impossible thanks to unique processes that combine jewellery craftsmanship with technology and innovation. This year’s collection “Or Bleu”, focuses on water as its source of inspiration and uses some of the most advanced techniques ever used in the high jewellery industry to create 26 incredible pieces. Here we find out more about what to expect.
In your words, how would you describe this year’s Carte Blanche collection?
Or Bleu high jewellery collection is an ode to the memory of water. It is our most vital and precious resource, and I wanted to pay homage to its beauty by creating 26 pieces reproducing as faithfully as possible the landscapes of Iceland and reflecting the colour, texture, transparency, and reflection of water.
What is special about this collection for you?
At Boucheron, our creative process for the Carte Blanche collections is mainly dedicated to re-questioning the notion of preciousness. For example, by using Cofalit, a “final material” made by recycling an industrial byproduct, burnt wood, or sand in my Carte Blanche collections, I am fueling this question. Our aim is to demonstrate that certain materials, not considered noble at first sight, are actually just as precious as gold and diamonds. What is special about this collection is that, for me, water is the most precious and vital thing on earth, so we have managed to achieve our vision and take our creative process to its fullest.
Can you talk about some of the highlight pieces?
Each piece is unique, and I cherish each of them. One of the collection’s masterpieces is the Cascade necklace, for its beauty and emotion. Measuring 148 centimetres, this white gold and diamond piece is the longest ever made in Boucheron’s ateliers, which stayed true to the source of inspiration by crafting a piece as fine as a filament. Given its oversized dimensions, this called for the utmost precision and patience; it took about 3,000 hours to craft it. With more than 1,800 diamonds of different sizes along its length, “Cascade” is set in a single articulated row to give it a beautiful suppleness and strikingly realistic fall. This necklace can be worn in six different ways: longer or shorter versions, and part of the necklace can be detached to become a pair of earrings. I like pieces to be transformable so that they can be worn for different occasions. Boucheron does not impose, Boucheron proposes. It’s up to you to choose your own style!
The Ondes necklace, inspired by the exact instance of a falling drop breaking the fragile balance of the water’s surface, is also a masterpiece. To capture its organic ripple motion, our Studio simulated this on 3D software, which then dictated the volumes of a necklace and two rings. To realistically reproduce the ripples, I decided to use rock crystal, which was sculpted and polished. The metal is reduced to a minimum in this necklace, designed as a second skin.
Furthermore, Vague, serving as both a brooch and a hair jewel, is also one of our masterpieces, which pays tribute to the power of water. It also echoes a 1910 tiara from the archives, itself inspired by Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanagawa. This piece draws on traditional high jewellery savoir-faire to convey the original design’s organic sense of poetry.
Tell us about some of the unique materials and processes used.
As we wanted to create ultra-realistic pieces, we focused on materials and innovations which would help us the most. We chose diamonds, rock crystal, and blue gemstones to perfectly reflect all states of water. Innovations such as 3D scanning and digital printing enabled us to reach the precise outcome that we wanted. For example, I wanted to capture and represent the exact movement of Icelandic waves on Eau Vive brooches. Every detail of these perfectly symmetrical pieces arises from a fusion of cutting-edge technology and high jewellery savoir-faire. These shoulder brooches were designed with 3D software to mimic the appearance of crashing waves, and then sculpted from a single rectangular block of aluminium. Materials and technology are always chosen depending on their ability to serve the purpose of our collections.
The black sand necklace is incredible – can you tell us about the process used for this?
When I saw black sand on Icelandic beaches, I immediately knew I wanted to bring it to this collection and create the Sable Noir set. Therefore, we consulted the automotive and aeronautics industries to form engine molds to bind the sand with a polymeric binder (a kind of glue), and deposit it in layers 1mm thick to obtain the desired shape. There is no limit to innovation when it serves our creative purpose.
Can you share a little about how you used water in this collection?
Water is the ultimate source of the Or Bleu collection, which explains its name. We chose “Or” (gold in English) to evoke the precious material, and “Bleu” (blue in English) to evoke water, thus linking the preciousness of gold with that of water. The challenge of this collection was to represent water, the most intangible of elements, and capture it for eternity in precious, innovative materials, creating 26 pieces of high jewellery.
As Boucheron continues to innovate with materials and techniques – what is something you would still like to do?
What I will always do in my high jewellery collections is fulfil a dream. Indeed, the starting point of our collections is always a dream that innovative materials and techniques make possible. Furthermore, I will always continue to cherish the ancestral know-how of our jewellers, as I believe that our greatest wealth is held in their hands.
How do you continue to be inspired for these collections, and where do you look to for inspiration?
I am constantly inspired by the social and cultural context that surrounds me and drawn to beauty—nature, human creations, and the Art Deco or Memphis art movements. I will continue to travel and nourish my creativity to further question the notion of preciousness and propose new creative visions and perspectives.
What are you currently working on?
In High Jewellery, time is long. I am constantly working on six different collections with a time horizon of around three years, so I am currently developing my creative concepts for 2027 and 2028 in collaboration with the Studio, the Research and Development department and our High Jewellery workshop.
What else can we expect to see from Boucheron in the Middle East this year?
Every year, our Carte Blanche collections, presented in Paris in July travel around the world for two years. We hope to present this collection soon in this fast-growing market, which is dear to Boucheron.
What is the final message you would send to readers about this collection?
The Or Bleu high jewellery collection is an ode to the memory of water. Water is the most vital and precious resource, and I wanted to pay homage to its beauty. I create High-Quality Jewellery to convey an emotion unique to each person. I believe that pieces should always go beyond their materiality and build an emotional bond with individuals.
