Style Edit: Boucheron’s creative director Claire Choisne unveils Impermanence: 6 new multipurpose compositions aligned with the Japanese belief of wabi-sabi and themed around nature’s transient beauty
The maison, founded in the 19th century by Frédéric Boucheron, is still based in Paris’ Place Vendôme, and still pushing the bounds of creativity in high jewellery
Founded in 1858 by the enterprising Frédéric Boucheron, the maison treasures modernity and new perspectives. Its pieces can resemble objets d’art and are unlike anything you will see elsewhere on Paris’ venerable Place Vendôme, where Boucheron remains the oldest jeweller still in operation.
In six compositions, the collection takes inspiration from the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi in its acceptance of imperfection, and the Japanese art of flower arranging, ikebana, which translates as “giving life to flowers”. In each, Choisne sought to capture the ephemeral element of nature with one-of-a-kind creations.
“In this new Carte Blanche collection, I’ve sought to capture the beauty of nature before it vanishes,” she says.
“These six compositions illustrate nature’s fleetingness and fluidity, shifting from light to shadow to highlight how precious it is … The collection is an ode to that fragile instant that I wanted to crystallise for eternity.”
The compositions, each capturing nature’s idiosyncrasies – the delicacy of a tulip, the wildness of a thistle or the sense of an oak tree moving in a breeze – fuse ancient and modern techniques, some not previously realised in high jewellery. This traverses the breadth of craftsmanship, from glassmaking to plant-based resin rendered with 3D printing technology.