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.
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