Chaumet pays tribute to defining architectural codes with the release of this year’s high jewellery collection. Torsade de Chaumet is inspired by the frieze that winds its way around the Vendôme Column in Paris’ Place Vendôme, the square where Chaumet opened its boutique in 1812. The whorls that wrap around the column are translated into precious twists – torsades in French – drawn in diamonds and precious stones.
The twist becomes a fluid reference in the new high jewellery pieces, which curl around the neck and draw diamond waves in the hair; dangling precious gems from the glittering tendrils, they become flexible forms infused with light. The pieces, caught in mid-spin, appear to move and tremble with the wearer.
In the tiara, the curves of the collection are intertwined with the jewellery house’s history. The piece is a significant addition to Chaumet’s tradition of supplying jewellery to European courts; Empress Joséphine was a loyal customer, and her favourite pieces are given a contemporary rethink here, in twirling lines of diamonds.
In earrings, diamonds become dynamic, with coils appearing to jump off the ear. A tightly woven coil clings to a ring, is also seen around the diamond-studded dial of a watch, and elsewhere corkscrews its way around the earlobe. In a necklace and a bracelet, the asymmetrical patterns spin past their elongated outlines. In other pieces, coloured stones add warmth – cushion-cut Ceylon sapphires, Mozambique rubies and Colombian emeralds are a warm foil for the graphic clarity of the diamonds.
The launch of the collection coincides with the opening of Chaumet’s newly renovated store in London’s Bond Street. LVMH architect Patricia Grosdemange brings familiar Chaumet naturalistic motifs such as ears of wheat, grasses and plants to life for an elegant touch of Paris in the heart of London.
INFORMATION
-
A Xingfa cement factory’s reimagining breathes new life into an abandoned industrial siteWe tour the Xingfa cement factory in China, where a redesign by landscape specialist SWA Group completely transforms an old industrial site into a lush park
-
Put these emerging artists on your radarThis crop of six new talents is poised to shake up the art world. Get to know them now
-
Dining at Pyrá feels like a Mediterranean kiss on both cheeksDesigned by House of Dré, this Lonsdale Road addition dishes up an enticing fusion of Greek and Spanish cooking
-
Jewellery designer Solange Azagury-Patridge celebrates three decades of precious witA new book illuminates a 30-year career of darkly fanciful high-jewellery design, and a smacker of a semi-precious hit
-
Chaumet’s new book celebrates its most memorable collaborations with photographers'Chaumet: Photographers’ Gaze' unites jewellery editorials and campaigns captured by major photographers. Co-author Carol Woolton tells us of the ‘addictive' Chaumet archive
-
Wild beauties: high jewellery dripping with dramaThe latest high jewellery collections are fantastic and flamboyant, drawing on a wealth of influences, from a Chopin composition and César Ritz to crocodiles and colour refraction
-
Boghossian looks to the palaces of the world for a regal high jewellery collectionBoghossian's new Palace Voyages collection is inspired by royal architecture
-
Chaumet, Cartier and Chanel up their high jewellery watch game for 2024In 2024's high jewellery watch designs, performance tech and centuries-old techniques combine to brilliant effect
-
High jewellery with dazzling effectsStand-out gems dazzle against a backdrop of red and black in our high jewellery shoot
-
Paris 2024 and Chaumet unveil Olympic and Paralympic medalsThe Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic medals designed by Chaumet are not just emblems of champions but are storytelling jewellery
-
Chunky chains are given a subversive high jewellery spinHigh jewellery houses rewrite the rules by way of 1980s tunes and a blast of emeralds, spinels and diamonds
