How these jewels release the inner child within: explore collections from Cartier, Dior, Tiffany & Co. Chopard, and Boucheron
Whimsical childhood favourites like fairies, clowns and cute animals are transformed into wearable art
Adulting can be tiring, so time spent reliving happy childhood memories is always comforting. And when nostalgia comes in the form of high jewellery, there’s something for both the inner child and the adult to appreciate. Embracing this theme, leading jewellery houses have reinterpreted childhood dreamscapes in sophisticated pieces that sparkle with whimsy and wit.
Fruitful invention
Cartier’s fresh 2024 take on its famous Tutti Frutti high jewellery collection is eye candy indeed. Tuttitutti was dreamed up by Cartier Libre, the French jeweller’s creative studio, and is a riot of colour and whimsical details, bringing to mind both the look of tutti-frutti candy and the childhood pastime of making jewellery from beads.
Several of the pieces feature the melon cut, where the gemstone is shaped into a luscious-looking ball with multiple smooth and glossy segments, such as the Fruity Juicy ring with a melon-cut amethyst accentuated with diamonds, all against a background of yellow gold.
The sautoir-style Fruity Juicy necklace has a sea green chrysoprase stone, also in the melon shape at the centre, surrounded by diamonds and black onyx, with additional chrysoprase, black onyx and diamond pavé beads at the two ends of the tassel. The same sea green, black and white diamond colour combination is used in the Blossom Ring, a dynamic ring made of a cluster of movable pendants adorned with the trio of precious stones, all set in pink gold.
Keeping track of time is a very much an adult activity but not when the timepiece has the bubbly cuteness of the pink gold Mir watch, where glossy baubles of white and blue opals, ruby-red rubellites, chalcedony and tanzanites bubble up and cluster together along the left of the dial.
Storybook magic
The Red Carpet collection represents the high jewellery that Caroline Scheufele, Chopard’s artistic director, designs for actresses to wear on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, of which Chopard has been an official partner since 1998. The 2024 collection, named Contes de Fées, looked to fairy tales for inspiration, showcasing popular storybook characters and symbols in 77 pieces of high jewellery.