Salon d’Apollon bracelet by Dior in scorched silver
Source:
https://scmp.com/magazines/style/watches-jewellery/article/3009227/goodbye-gold-dior-and-chopard-use-space-age Luxury
Goodbye, gold: Dior and Chopard use space-age alloys to shape new jewellery masterpieces
- Hong Kong designers Wallace Chan, Cindy Chao and Edmond Chin are pioneers in the use of titanium, regarded as the ‘perfect material’
Chopard’s Red Carpet collection floral ring in titanium, a space-age alloy prized for its strength, light weight and colour treatment properties.
The use of metals beyond the conventional gold and platinum is changing forever the notion of what constitutes high jewellery. Alloys such as titanium and oxidised silver juxtaposed with gemstones create precious wearable art.
It’s almost as if a revolution in jewel art is taking place right before our eyes – a beautiful transformation for which just gold or platinum are not enough.
Dior Joaillerie crafts the À Versailles Salon d’Apollon Bracelet in darkened silver, together with 18-ct pink, yellow and white gold, and diamonds. Used in certain settings, the oxidised silver lends depth to the jewel and conveys a mystery directly inspired by 18th-century jewellery-making techniques,” says Victoire de Castellane, artistic director of Dior Joaillerie.
Although titanium is a chemical element, the metal form used in jewellery is an alloy containing aluminium and vanadium that is used by the aircraft industry due to its light weight and strength.
Titanium dominates Chopard’s new Red Carpet Collection. An orchid-shaped ring in titanium has petals coated with a fine layer of white ceramic, while the stem and buds are adorned with tsavorites. Symbolic of nature’s game of seduction, a white opal cabochon acts as the orchid’s labellum, radiating the pinkish shimmer of tinted titanium, enhanced by pink sapphires and diamonds.
Boucheron's Lierre Givré necklace
Boucheron’s new Nature Triomphante High Jewellery Collection references Frédéric Boucheron’s taste for innovation. “For the Lierre Givré necklace, the idea was to get the feeling that a real ivy branch was wrapped around the neck of the woman. It was important to work with a light metal – titanium is four-and-a-half times lighter than gold,” says Claire Choisne, creative director of the French maison.
“I also wanted it to evoke a branch of ivy on which the snow would have fallen. Titanium can be treated in colour, so we used a slightly bluish titanium, which gives a feeling of coldness.”
Inspired by the winter thaw, “We worked on the ‘sound’ of a jewel for the first time. When the leaves tremble, they tingle like frost,” explains Choisne.
Likewise, while designing the Conchiglie bracelet and earrings, Giampiero Bodino was mindful of titanium. “It was used because it is a metal that can be coloured to create harmonies of colours with gemstone. It is also very light,” says the founder of Maison Giampiero Bodino and creative director of the Richemont Group.
Anodised titanium matches the colours of the various pave set gemstones – yellow, blue, and pink sapphires, rubies, red and pink spinels, Paraiba tourmalines, spessartite garnets, tsavorites, pearls and diamonds. From the workshop of London jeweller David Morris comes the Neptune Chandelier Earrings set with an exceptional pair of Australian black opals totalling 86 carats, Paraiba tourmalines, blue sapphires and diamonds.
“We used the increasingly popular titanium, a material with multilayered characteristics for setting jewellery. Lightweight, it comfortably holds onto the ear, whilst supporting each precious stone.
“Virtually unbreakable, its featherweight properties make titanium a perfect material,” says Jeremy Morris, managing and creative director.
Cindy Chao The Art Jewel floral brooch featuring emeralds and titanium
Contemporary Hong Kong designers Cindy Chao, Edmond Chin and Wallace Chan have also turned their attention to the intriguing metal, which changes colour when anodised from its natural grey tone.
The 2018 Black Label Masterpiece XVII “Greenovia Brooch”, created by Cindy Chao, is a sculptural three-dimensional jewel in oxidised silver and titanium, with a rare 105.37-ct Chrysoberyl Cat’s Eye at its centre. “Titanium is a very modern material used to reduce weight, but technically very hard to craft due to it being one of the strongest metals. Each Black Label Masterpiece requires more than 10,000 hours to complete,” says Chao.
Designer Wallace Chan pioneered the use of titanium in high jewellery.
Hera by Wallace Chan, a transformable peacock brooch- cum-ring, is crafted in titanium and Wallace Chan Porcelain, a groundbreaking material five times stronger than steel.
“The result of seven years of research, it gives me a lot of creative freedom in terms of aesthetic forms and functional parts. Married with titanium, this innovative material marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life,” says Chan.
A brooch by Boghossian featuring the use of titanium.
“Lightness, strength and the beautiful colours it can be anodised to” are the reasons Hong Kong-based Edmond Chin, creative director of Geneva jeweller Boghossian, used titanium for the Natural Conch Pearls and Diamonds Flower Brooch.
“It’s very challenging to work with titanium – it’s difficult to cast, hard to work with and even harder to solder,” Chin says. “Weight is one of the greatest challenges to the jeweller. The modern customer wants a big impact but also requires comfort. In titanium, we have found the ideal material for large earrings and brooches.”
Tough yet light, titanium is the new desirable alloy for crafting large, sturdy yet dainty objets d’arts for adornment.