High jewellery season came and went in sumptuous style, as ever. From a Viennese fling with Cartier and pure American luxury with Tiffany & Co. at the Beverley Estate in Los Angeles, to sojourns in some of the world’s most romantic cities – Venice with Chaumet and Rome, of course, with Bulgari – jewellers were out to impress.
Not only with dazzling feats of savoir faire and exceptional gemstones, but in the presentation of their new collections. After all, wooing a high jewellery client takes serious time and effort. This year’s collections were audacious, with an emphasis on pushing technique to the limit in pieces requiring thousands of hours to make, all still done by hand.
A profound reminder of this very human endeavour is learning that in a career of 40 years, an artisan in the Cartier high jewellery workshop may make “just” 40 pieces. In an increasingly competitive category – with the likes of luxury fashion houses Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior going up against traditional jewellers such as Cartier, Bulgari and Tiffany & Co. – dazzling the world’s most desired clients with ever more exceptional pieces has become de rigueur.
1. Animalia is very much a thing {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Cartier Panthère Jaillissante bracelet/ring","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/0d93a7b3-e2a7-4ca0-9074-abcc60f857bc_53a2bd72.jpg"} Cartier Panthère Jaillissante bracelet/ring Cartier looked to the animal kingdom, long a source of inspiration in both figurative and abstract expression throughout the brand’s history, for this year’s Nature Sauvage collection.
Jacqueline Karachi, Cartier’s director of high jewellery creation, wanted to focus on playful and unexpected depictions of animals. To wit, a flamingo hiding among emerald foliage and, in the Koaga necklace, an abstraction of a zebra with onyx and diamond stripes framing a luscious rubellite. The maison’s favourite feline, the panther, was of course the star, seen stalking elegantly in exceptional pieces such as the rock crystal and kite-shaped diamond Panthère des Glaces necklace, and in a striking bracelet and ring hybrid piece, the Panthère Jaillissante, set with an 8.
63-carat Zambian emerald. {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Kimberley Woltemas at the launch of Cartier’s Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection in Vienna in May","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/36111329-efdf-4e29-9c70-2fdc0f26f7d1_1e6560bf.jpg"} Kimberley Woltemas at the launch of Cartier’s Nature Sauvage high jewellery collection in Vienna in May Meanwhile at Dior, creative director Victoire de Castellane imagined woodland creatures including foxes, hedgehogs, deer and squirrels, hiding among ponds of blue sapphire and the brush of diamonds.
Some of the critters were realised using the ancient art of glyptic – the engraving of precious stones – as well as with lacquer. Tiffany & Co. continued to reimagine one of its best-known pieces, Bird on a Rock, first introduced in 1965, with the latest brooches set with emeralds, rubellites, sapphires and opals.
2. Epic pieces that are easy to wear The paradox of high jewellery is that though it comprises the most dramatic, extravagant creations using the most exceptional (often, gumdrop-sized) gemstones, it is meant to be light, supple and easy to wear. This idea was particularly well expressed at Chaumet, which looked to music and dance, arts with which the storied jeweller has a long affinity, for inspiration.
This could be seen in pieces such as the Ballet necklace, which called to mind dancers in mid-pirouette, with cushion-cut sapphires from Sri Lanka set with round sapphires and brilliant-cut diamonds in white gold; and the Tango earrings, which recalled the vivacity of dance with juicy rubellite and greenish-blue tourmalines surrounded by brilliant-cut diamonds. {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Chanel Graphic Line necklace","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/4a3ca9ee-9a14-4315-b58d-eec58196d254_9a8d346d.jpg"} Chanel Graphic Line necklace Meanwhile, Chanel presented the Sport collection in Monaco in June.
Patrice Leguéreau, director of the fine jewellery creation studio, explored the clean lines and elegance of different sporting codes with pieces such as the Sporty 5 necklace, set with a diamond of – what else? – 5.55 carats. 3.
Tiffany looks to the stars After looking deep beneath the ocean for inspiration last season, this year Tiffany & Co. turned also to the stars , tracing the celestial inspirations of one of its eternal muses, the inimitable designer Jean Schlumberger. As he once said of his approach to using the wonders of nature in his designs, “I try to make everything look as if it were growing, uneven, at random, organic, in motion.
” {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Tiffany Celeste Ray of Light necklace","url":"https://img.i-scmp.
com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/fd4f79e6-2990-4181-a308-dbc6538e8119_b87cb2af.jpg"} Tiffany Celeste Ray of Light necklace This collection – the jeweller’s biggest yet – is broken into six chapters including Wings and Ray of Light, reimagining classic Schlumberger pieces such as the Tiffany Apollo brooch in yellow and white diamonds. Another highlight is the show-stopping winged Pegasus necklace, featuring a diamond of more than 20 carats, while the Ray of Light necklace can be converted into a tiara should you be in need of one.
The wonders of nature were also explored by Boucheron, with what looked like stalactites and icicles in wondrous diamonds that appeared to drip in mid-air. 4. Boldness is back at LV and Bulgari High jewellery is hardly for shy and retiring types, and this is certainly not the case for Francesca Amfitheatrof, artistic director of watches and jewellery at Louis Vuitton.
Her designs for the world’s biggest luxury brand are unapologetically bold. This year she presented her 80-piece collection in Saint-Tropez, showing incredible creations such as Victoire, inspired by the Eiffel Tower; and another that harked back to the early days of train travel (and Louis Vuitton trunks) to tell the story of France’s accomplishments in the 19th century. {"@context":"https://schema.
org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Bulgari Aeterna high jewellery collection","url":"https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/f3c7facd-9c86-4fe4-94ff-4080c29c04f0_6a6ab914.
jpg"} Bulgari Aeterna high jewellery collection Another brand with boldness, and high voltage use of colour, is Vuitton’s LVMH stablemate, Bulgari. This year celebrating its 140th anniversary, the Roman jeweller presented, among other treasures, a piece that CEO Jean-Christophe Babin told Vogue Business was the “necklace of the century”. With seven pear-shaped diamonds totalling, yes, 140 carats, and the result of some 2,800 hours of work, the Serpenti Aeterna was worn by Bulgari ambassador Priyanka Chopra at the jeweller’s gala event in Rome.
5. Reinventing the codes {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"Louis Vuitton High Jewellery Awakened Hands Élégance necklace","url":"https://img.
i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/08/06/e45272f7-3a25-4b83-94d5-813782bff400_02aaf97f.jpg"} Louis Vuitton High Jewellery Awakened Hands Élégance necklace From Cartier breathing new life into its beloved Panthère to Chanel returning to the famed quilting of its handbags and totems that recall Coco Chanel, heritage maisons will always mine their enviable archives to find new expressions.
This was the case at Dior, where de Castellane found inspiration in the Toile de Jouy print, which once covered the walls of the historic 30 Montaigne boutique in 1947; and at Louis Vuitton, which incorporated its logo, including the LV Monogram Flower cut diamond, into several designs. Luxury fashion houses Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Dior went up against traditional jewellers Cartier, Bulgari and Tiffany & Co. at the recent whirlwind of summer high jewellery launches, from Place Vendôme and beyond.
