Boucheron’s new Carte Blanche collection is an invitation to contemplate the fleeting beauty of nature
The power and beauty of nature has been a well of inspiration for Claire Choisne, Creative Director of Boucheron. Last year, we witnessed how she captured the essence of water as an element in last year’s Carte Blanche, “Or Bleu”. This year, she continues the creative pursuit of making the ephemeral eternal with “Impermance”. The six botanical compositions are inspired by ikebana, Japan’s art of flower arranging, and the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi. Light threads the narrative here – from the lightest “Composition n°6” to the darkest “Composition n°1”.
In this new Carte Blanche collection, I’ve sought to capture the beauty of nature before it vanishes. These six compositions illustrate nature’s fleetingness, shifting from light to shadow to highlight how precious it is. Comprising 28 pieces of High Jewellery, the collection is an ode to that fragile instant that I wanted to crystallise for eternity.
Claire Choisne
The intricate details and construction of the “Impermanence” collection took over 18,000 hours of work in the Maison’s workshops, pushing the boundaries of high jewellery in form, and use of cutting-edge materials and techniques.
Composition N°6
The tulip is eternalised here in the quiver of a pistil and the curve of a petal. Equally mesmerising is the eucalyptus frozen in form. The lifelikeness of this composition called for utmost precision, such that even the stamens around the tulip’s pistil are mobile. The shimmering diamond pavé setting offsets the crystal clarity of the borosilicate glass, chosen here for its malleability, and ability to give an alternately matte or transparent finish. The glass was fashioned by hand to achieve a thickness of just 2 millimetres.
One of the greatest technical challenges here is perhaps the thin, iridescent wings of the white gold dragonfly at rest. At barely a millimetre in thickness, the insect’s wings were created by overlaying sapphire glass onto a film of mother-of-pearl that captures their natural iridescence, its naturalistic quality further enhanced by laser-cut veining on the wings.
When worn, the dragonfly is suspended from an ear, while the eucalyptus branch functions as either a brooch or hair jewellery, and the tulip transforms into a brooch.
Composition N°5
The wild beauty of the thistle – fierce yet delicate – is captured in this composition where two thistle heads stand tall, every thorn and leaf so faithfully rendered that one might expect to get pricked. A rhinoceros beetle in white gold, diamonds and a ceramic coating, approaches the scene. Boucheron breaks new ground here, rendering the spiky flower heads in plant-based resin using ultra-high-resolution 3D printing technology for the first time in High Jewellery, to yield an unrivalled lifelike degree of detail.
In the absence of a metal structure, the artisans devised a new technique called “couture” setting, where each bezel-set diamond is sewn into one of the thistles’ cell-like alveoli. Over 600 diamonds were set in the large thistle head, and over 200 in the small one. The long stems, spikes and leaves are crafted in white gold, set with diamonds, then coated in thin white ceramic to make the metal invisible to the eye. An organic pattern of openwork tracery on the underside of the leaves enhances the sparkle of the diamonds.
The larger thistle can be picked and worn as a brooch, or as a crossbody jewel with a cord made from bio-sourced material, another first in High Jewellery. The smaller thistle can be worn as a double-finger ring, while the beetle serves as a brooch.
Composition N°4
The oat and cyclamen seem to be suspended in air, floating on a breeze. A composition that almost seems to be alive, it is held in a white gold vase set entirely with diamonds in a snow setting. Nearly 700 rose-cut diamonds varying in shape and size – each one handpicked – are set into the cyclamen’s white gold petals. Under the sea of diamonds, their shine intensified by a line of glossy black lacquer along the petals’ edges, the metal almost disappears.
Where the petals meet the stem, a pointy calyx is mimicked with custom-cut rock crystal. A black-coated titanium oat stalk is sculpted into diamond-set spikelets, contrasting with the shiny black ceramic coating in the inside of each floret. Matte black DLC-coated titanium stems lend both delicacy and strength to the composition.
A white gold caterpillar – daintily set with diamonds and softly rounded black spinels, its fine hairs mimicked with brush fibres – appears to be gently crawling along the vase, thanks to an articulated system that allows its body to arch or flatten. A butterfly displays open wings of white gold with snow-set diamonds, accented by black lacquer.
The cyclamens have a pivoting mechanism that transforms them into a bracelet or brooch, while the oat stalk is worn as a hair jewel, as is the butterfly. The caterpillar becomes a brooch.
Composition N°3
This pitch-black composition of the iris and wisteria in a titanium and aluminum vase is counterbalanced by dazzling diamonds. The iris, which detaches to become a brooch, displays a vivid black-and-white contrast along its opened petals, the mix of matte and glossy finishes achieved by using various shades of black DLC. Diamonds set in white gold adorn the flower’s surface, while the petals’ edges sparkle with diamonds set directly into the titanium. The leaf of the iris glistening with “morning dew” is created by two lines of grain-set diamonds and two dewdrops of rock crystal.
The wisteria, which has a comb system that allows it to be worn in the hair or fastened to clothing, had to be almost weightless yet remain robust. Boucheron’s artisans achieved volume without adding weight by combining lightweight ceramic, titanium and aluminium, to achieve a total weight of 150 grams. The floral cluster, made up of around one hundred separate elements, were assembled by hand to achieve its shape.
The body of the stag beetle at the base of the composition, is sculpted in titanium with bands of white gold, and a shiny black DLC finish that contrasts with the pavé diamonds, and legs of titanium and matte black DLC. Worn as a brooch, the stag beetle’s impressive mandibles are fashioned from gray titanium with a rough black DLC finish.
Composition N°2
To achieve the lifelike realism of a real magnolia extending its branches outwards with all that’s left of its blooms being lingering outlines, the Maison’s artisans scanned a real magnolia, including its branches, flowers and buds. They had to retain the natural horizontal silhouette of a magnolia branch, while offsetting its inherent imbalance by using lightweight aluminium, then set diamonds into the metal in a snow setting to lend it an organic quality.
The black anodized aluminium petals get their sparkle from the linear pavé of flush-set diamonds, while the diamonds in the blooms’ white gold hearts in an inverse setting create unexpected plays of light. Meanwhile, a striking contrast is drawn between the rhodium-plated upper surface of the silver leaves set with diamonds in a filet setting, and the underside in a black ceramic coating. Emerging buds of rhodium-plated white gold are adorned with rose-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds of different shapes.
A stick bug with a rhodium-plated white gold body and wings with grain-set diamonds, is crowned with a pear-shaped diamond. When detached, the stick bug becomes a brooch while the magnolia transforms into a head jewel or a collar necklace.
Composition N°1
Resting in a vase made by 3D-printing black sand, a poppy and sweet peas appear to bloom in a form of darkness that almost seems to curve along every contour and petal. The poppy can be worn as a headband or brooch, while the sweet pea blossom transforms into different brooches, and the butterfly rests on clothing as a shoulder brooch, thanks to its system of magnetic fasteners.
The poppy here holds the most innovative element of this entire collection: the veining of its matte black titanium petals are hand-etched on the inside with a coating of Vantablack® – one of the darkest materials ever created, absorbing 99.965% of light, creating an effect of matter seemingly dissolving into pure nothingness. Black spinels in the flower – some set face up, some upside down – catch the rare glints of light that cut through the darkness. The pistils are created by stretching gold into the finest filaments possible, their tips set with black spinels and bezel-set diamonds.
The sweet pea’s titanium coiling tendrils are decorated with black spinels in a graduated flush setting, and its delicate flowers sculpted from onyx and black aventurine glass. A butterfly lingers, its matte-black titanium body set with black spinels, and its transparent black glass wings patterned with polished veining against their matte expanse.
Images courtesy of Boucheron, artwork by Curatedition. All rights reserved.
Related links:
Boucheron Quatre Classique Tube: Sculptural Statement
Boucheron: From 26 Place Vendôme, and ever after
Boucheron Quatre: A Moment in Time, Eternalised
Boucheron Carte Blanche: Elemental
