Celebrated for her bold, fantastical designs, Dior Joaillerie artistic director Victoire de Castellane is known to combine historical flair with vibrant gemstones and precious metals. Her latest high jewellery collection reimagines the classic Toile de Jouy pattern into playful, modern masterpieces. This iconic 18th-century motif, seen on Dior’s Book Tote bag, Walk‘n’Dior trainers and scarves, serves as the central theme for the 172-piece Diorama and Diorigami collections.
Marking a first for Castellane, the collection introduces animal motifs in a stunning blend of detailed figurative and abstract designs, crafted with advanced techniques in gold work and stone setting. Originally seen on the walls of Christian Dior’s first boutique at 30 Avenue Montaigne, the Toile de Jouy theme takes centre stage in the Diorama collection as a whimsical woodland featuring carved and diamond-set squirrels, fawns and rabbits among lush foliage. Necklaces reveal miniature deer and owls in tonal lacquer, swans on mother-of-pearl lakes, and flora adorned with diamond-pavé foxes and squirrels.
The three-dimensional beauty of this collection is epitomised by the Diorama Forêt Enchantée necklace, a masterpiece that required over 6,000 hours of meticulous work. Specialists crafted glyptic chrysoprase animals – an ancient art of sculpting ornamental stones – using modern techniques. The necklace features intricately engraved yellow gold leaves and foliage set with 1,300 gems, inclu.