High jewellers add luxury using subtle, even secret, details
Van Cleef & Arpels, Boucheron, Bulgari, Cindy Chao and more are turning to unusual materials and innovative ideas
What would you expect from a 30ct diamond ring? Boucheron’s take on it was certainly unconventional. Creative director Claire Choisne filled a clear rock crystal sphere with those diamonds as if she’d frozen a snowball for eternity and made a ring out of it.
“The idea was to create a snowball and snowballs don’t shine like the sun,” Choisne says. “It’s more subtle.”
The effect was not easy to achieve. New tools were developed to clear the inside of a crystal sphere through a tiny hole until eventually the dome came to only 1.3mm thin.
“Filling the sphere with over 30ct of diamonds creates an optical illusion that the rock crystal has disappeared,” she explains.
Such subtle details that could be easily overlooked by novice collectors, however, intrigue seasoned connoisseurs.
High jewellers are appealing to their sophisticated clientele with subtle and luxurious details achieved through innovation and savoir faire. Luxury watches have already adopted the philosophy. Laurent Ferrier’s sought-after Galet Classic, featuring a tourbillion only visible through the caseback, has become one of the house’s signature timepieces. Subtle metiers d’arts, such as gold granulation, grand feu enamel and hand guilloche appeal to veteran watch collectors.
High jewellers, known for having the wow factor, are using their own approaches to catch up with the subtle luxury trend with their own approaches. Some use unconventional materials, and some increase the versatility of their pieces by creating transformable options, while others invest in mechanisms that make the pieces comfortable to wear.
