Boucheron’s home at 26 Place Vendôme holds the magic of the Maison’s precious creations, past and present
Enter Boucheron’s boutique at 26 Place Vendôme. Be welcomed by the Maison’s mascot Wladmir the cat – you might spot his basket nesting against a grand 18th-century main staircase installed by Charles de Nocé. What anticipates you is more than a grand Parisian mansion, it’s a journey through Maison Boucheron’s rich history and storied collections.
Up the grand staircase is a succession of salons, each an experience on its own. The Salon des Lumières entrances with a view of Place Vendôme, against which the jewels appear to float. Then there is the Salon des Fiancés where a pearl-draped chandelier recalls bridal veils, and the Salon des Créations highlighting the art of jewellery-making through artworks featuring tools of the craft.
The Salon Chinois stands out with Vernis Martin adorning the walls, the pagoda motif now a Boucheron signature found in the Maison’s stores globally, and most of all, a secret door that allowed discreet entrances and exits in the 19th century. Salon de l’Horlogerie, formerly the Countess of Castiglione’s apartments, now showcases the Maison’s watch collection.
What the salons have in common though, are cosy, intimate settings, often framed by sofas and round tables – an invitation to gather, to take time picking out precious pieces to have and to hold.
That cosiness extends to the exceptional experience that is 26V, the private apartment on the third floor of the Boucheron townhouse. Guests are made to feel at home, literally, in this self-contained apartment with its own dining room, reception room, bedroom, bathroom, and even a library with books that belonged to Frédéric Boucheron.
This unconventional approach to presenting the jewellery shopping experience has its roots in the Maison’s beginnings. In his early days at Palais Royal, Frédéric Boucheron invited passers-by to envision themselves wearing the pieces by displaying the jewellery vertically over velvet-covered panels instead of laying them flat in their cases. An extension of his vision in jewellery-making, he emphasised wearability in his creations, providing styling advice to clients; he did not just redesign jewellery codes, he changed the way people experienced jewellery.
Taking his experience from Palais Royal to Hôtel de Nocé, Frédéric Boucheron manifests Paris’s most beautiful jewellery boutique on what was formerly a deserted formal square. One of the first great contemporary jewellers to open a boutique on Place Vendôme, Boucheron’s move considered the daily walking route of fashionable ladies, and how the architecture and sunlit location of Number 26 in particular, enhanced his jewellery creations.
It is at this historic location at 26 Place Vendôme that Boucheron’s magic in creation persists. On the top two floors are the Creative Studio and the workshop. The latter is home to the artisans who keep the Maison’s savoir-faire alive with their fine jewellery-crafting skills such as stone-setting and polishing among other specialties, overcoming technical complexities in bringing the ideas born in the Creative Studio to life.
Under the roof of the Hôtel de Nocé are the carefully preserved archives of the brand, including special orders, stock ledgers, photographs, World’s Fair documents, gouaches and drawings. The archive is a living legacy, where more than 800 past pieces that exemplify Boucheron’s four creative pillars – couture, innovation, architecture and nature – are kept.
Couture
Look into the archives of this jeweller, and you will find an abundance of bows, mesh, ribbons, tassels and lace. Frédéric Boucheron’s inclinations towards creating jewellery that reproduced the volumes, textures, fluidity and drape of fabrics using gold and precious gemstones, came from his background as a draper’s son.
Couture as one of the Maison’s creative pillars shows the virtuosity and savoir-faire of its goldsmiths and artisans. The Delilah and Pompon collections explore volume and fluidity in the jewellery design, mastering the drape associated with textiles in the pieces created. In the realm of high jewellery, the monochromatic collection The Power of Couture takes a fresh approach to ceremonial ornaments through the ingenious application of rock crystal and diamonds.
Architecture
It comes as no surprise that architecture is one of the creative pillars at Boucheron. Historic pieces find expression in light of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, materialised through avant-garde techniques.
At present, the Vendôme and Liseré collections evoke graphic lines of Parisian architecture, and the aerial view of Place Vendôme interpreted in an emerald cut – a Boucheron signature. Classic yet current, the motif was first revived in the 26 Vendôme high jewellery collection.
Nature
At the heart of the brand is the yearning for nature. One of Boucheron’s four creative pillars, nature has long been a source of inspiration that Frédéric Boucheron studied closely to ensure his creations could capture in them a lifelikeness.
More than a century ago, Frédéric Boucheron and his foreman were so mesmerised by the liveliness and lightness of a feather in play that it inspired the creation of a necklace that would be just as free, aerial and supple. The Plume de Paon collection was thus born. Today, the precious chiselled yet supple strands that make up this emblematic motif in its various iterations are brought to life by every movement of those who wear it.
Come 2025, the high jewellery collection Untamed Nature pays homage to this devotion to nature with a fresh perspective, where the flora and fauna featured embrace the body in innovative ways.
The Jardin d’Hiver, which means winter garden, in the Hôtel de Nocé, recalls the bright greenhouse-like reception rooms of the Victorian era, where living plants surround the Maison’s Nature collections.
Innovation
Innovation as a creative pillar propels the Maison to new heights. Besides exploring new materials, the bold, free spirit of the Maison also comes through in creating new icons such as the Quatre, which rose to its status in a span of just twenty years.
Eponymously, the Quatre features four rings that reproduce Boucheron’s architectural codes (Grosgrain, line of Diamonds, Double Godron and Clou de Paris), lending itself to different iterations and styling combinations. Worn stacked or individually, as a reflection of personality or occasion, the Quatre is a striking statement of style.
Since Quatre Classique joined the Boucheron family in 2004, the Quatre has been reimagined in colour-coded editions, a 20th anniversary edition, and even a future-forward 5D memory capsule.
In a daring move towards a sustainable future, the Maison unveiled a new packaging made from only two natural and recyclable raw materials – shiny aluminium moulded to aesthetic perfection, and emerald green wool felt that embraces the most delicate of jewels it houses. Rolled out progressively across the world, Boucheron’s boutique at Marina Bay Sands Singapore was the first in Southeast Asia to launch this innovative packaging.
Like the building blocks laid by Frédéric Boucheron, which eventually became the cornerstone of what Boucheron stands for today, the innovation in the new packaging paves the way for what’s to come in the future.
Images courtesy of Boucheron, artwork by Curatedition. All rights reserved.
Related links:
Boucheron Quatre: A Moment in Time, Eternalised
Boucheron Carte Blanche: Elemental
Boucheron Quatre: Magic Number 4
