Out of the woods: the natural wonder of Piaget’s marquetry jewels

For the past three years, the various characters of sunlight, from high summer’s desert-red to winter’s pearly grey, have been the creative driver behind Piaget’s high jewellery collections. This month, the Swiss marque’s ‘Sunlight Escape’ chapter revels in frozen landscapes and the clear, moonlit nights that provide a natural backdrop for the Aurora Borealis.
The diffused greens and blues that shimmer across Northern skies are represented in Rose Saneuil’s mesmerising marquetry work on the ‘Green Aurora’ cuff and accompanying marquetry earrings. Her sense of subtle colour is immaculately conveyed in extra-fine slivers of straw, and sycamore and hornbeam woods.
Saneuil’s process involves cutting out veneers, then fitting them into the design form, a technique she refers to as “element by element”. When the straw and wood is set, they are sanded and varnished in a particular style.
Though Saneuil has previously created dial designs for Piaget, they were produced on a flat surface. For the Aurora pieces, she had to painstakingly develop her already exceptional skill to create the curved surfaces that give the jewels their rich, sensual form.
Green Aurora marquetry earrings, in yellow gold, with ‘shards’ of diamonds, tourmalines and sapphires
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Piaget website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Caragh McKay is a contributing editor at Wallpaper* and was watches & jewellery director at the magazine between 2011 and 2019. Caragh’s current remit is cross-cultural and her recent stories include the curious tale of how Muhammad Ali met his poetic match in Robert Burns and how a Martin Scorsese Martin film revived a forgotten Osage art.
-
The Wallpaper* Design Issue comes with our Salone del Mobile must-sees
The May 2025 issue of Wallpaper* is on sale now, taking in Milan Design Week, the Venice Biennale, and a very stylish tea party
By Bill Prince Published
-
Aboard Gio Ponti's colourful Arlecchino train in Milan, a conversation about design with Formafantasma
The design duo boards Gio Ponti’s train bound for the latest Prada Frames symposium at Milan Design Week
By Laura May Todd Published
-
The ultimate high-performance earbuds, courtesy of McLaren and Bowers & Wilkins
The new Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 McLaren Edition continues a decade’s worth of cross-pollination between these two tech-focused British manufacturers
By Jonathan Bell Published