Excerpts from the interview with Claire Choisne, Creative Director of Maison Boucheron
My creative process is very intuitive, it’s guided by an inspiration, a moment, a dream.
The Maison’s archives are so rich, full of various aesthetics and designs.
On August 2nd 1928, the Maharajah of Patiala crossed the place Vendôme with his guards and his 6 iron safes which contained 7571 diamonds and 1432 emeralds. He entrusted Maison Boucheron with the creation of a remarkable collection of 149 pieces in only 6 months.
Excerpts from the interview with Claire Choisne, Creative Director of Maison Boucheron:
Your recent jewellery collections were inspired by nature, or by lights and colors. Why in this new Histoire de Style, New Maharajahs collection you wanted to bring the past back to the present?
We create two High Jewelry collections each year. The collection launched in July is called “Carte Blanche”, which means “freedom to create” in French. We are focusing more on innovation, on creativity and we push the barriers of jewelry. In January, the collection is called “Histoire of Style” collection as it embodies style and history. It’s a way to show the great pieces we have in our archives and our modern approach to interpret Boucheron’s history.
So, even if the New Maharajahs collection was inspired by the archives, I wanted to offer a modern vision. When I joined Boucheron 10 years ago, it was the first story that everybody told me. It’s really one-of-a-kind story, a fairytale. On August 2nd 1928, the Maharajah of Patiala crossed the place Vendôme with his guards and his 6 iron safes which contained 7571 diamonds and 1432 emeralds. He entrusted Maison Boucheron with the creation of a remarkable collection of 149 pieces in only 6 months. This order remains the largest ever placed in the Place Vendôme. I was totally fascinated by the story and by the original drawings! What struke me the most was the scale and volume of the pieces made for a 2-meter-tall man, which is crazy to imagine.
I didn’t choose this theme particularly for this year because in reality, my creative team and I started working on the concept of the collection back in 2020. Personally, working on the same theme and style, again and again, isn’t interesting for me. My creative process is very intuitive, it’s guided by an inspiration, a moment, a dream. I have been thinking a lot about this story over the last 10 years, and I didn’t intellectualize it. It’s important to show people that Boucheron can’t be summarize easily. The Maison’s archives are so rich, full of various aesthetics and designs.
You have always stressed on making your designs of fine jewellery accessible to everyone; how and which pieces of the new Maharajahs collection reflects this theory?
Historically, the pieces of the 1928 special order are impressive but from a design point of view, it’s over the top for today. Obviously, they were made to show off status and power. Personally, it’s not what I like. I prefer a more personal approach of jewelry, that you buy for yourself, to express your style and your personality. While the original designs of the Maharajah order were mainly made to be worn by a man, I wanted to turn the concept around, to make jewels for women that could be borrowed by men.
The new Maharajah collection emphasis the art of engraving of stones, what are the challenges you had towards achieving this fine engraving of gemstones stones?
Indeed, we revisited the glyptics, an ancient technique of gemstone engraving, that we did on rock crystal for the first time. Many lotus flowers have been engraved on rock crystal and mother-of-pearl in the collection, for example on the three necklaces that comprise the New Maharani set. I was inspired by a lotus pattern on a bazuband - an arm bracelet – from the Maharajah commission. I am very happy to put forward this technique as it is extremely rare. In fact, there are only three people in France expert of this craft. They have golden hands; they are able to carve into very fragile stones such as emeralds without breaking them. There is no room for error, it is not like a drawing that can be erased. I think the glyptics brings more sophistication to the pieces.
The transformation of pieces is always evident in your designs. In this collection all of the new Maharajah set, the new Maharani cristal and the new Maharani Nacre necklaces were created with transformation and with different wearing applications. Do you feel that Boucheron’s clientele would always look forward to such valuable and transformable pieces from Boucheron?
Absolutely! Today, we create High Jewelry to be worn in everyday life as a signature of style. Everything we do comes down to the freedom of creation, meaning women and men are unrestricted when wearing the pieces. The saddest part is putting the jewel away in a safe. We like women and men to who dare to wear them in their daily life to express their unique style and personality. That is why when we work on sketches with my creative team, we are not doing traditional ones as we prefer to draw the jewels on a woman or a man portrait to better picture the piece worn, imagine the look, think about the multi-wear options, etc. What I love and what was very important for me was to have a very natural, strong yet elegant result whether the piece is worn by a woman or a man. Multiwear in this Histoire de Style collection was also important for me to support the fact that jewelry is not a way to assert a status, as it was in the past, but to express your own style.
In addition, I work closely with our CEO Hélène Poulit-Duquesne and it is always a joy to try on the collection when the pieces start coming to life. We try them all to check comfort, the fit, whether they fall well, that they feel nice to wear. It’s generally at these times that we begin to imagine which sort of outfits they might go well with. We ourselves try on the jewellery because it must remain alive. You can't visualize it on a model; the best way is to wear it. The Indian style and traditions in designing the new Maharani Cristal necklace is obvious (the Melon cut of the stones). Was this traditional craftsmanship a must or just to complement the flare of the past?
I incorporated melon-cut stones in the New Maharajahs collection because I think it brings subtility and an Indian feeling to the pieces.
You used again the flower of lotus in this new collection. Although several animals such as the elephant, the monkey and tiger are essential parts of the Indian culture and history. But we don’t see the impact of the animal influence in this collection. Why?
New Maharajahs is not an Indian collection, nor about copying the Indian style, but more about taking the spirit of the original story of 1928 and giving it a new perspective by modernizing it and giving it a contemporary twist. I wanted to look at this special order as a whole, not to focus on one design in particular. My goal was to understand the purpose of this special order, to decide what I loved and what needed change. It was important for me to find the right balance between Boucheron and the art of Indian jewelry-making.
I reinvented the design by bringing subtlety, purity, and delicacy to it. That’s why only one set of the Histoire de Style, New Maharajahs collection has color with the use of Colombian emeralds and the rest of the collection is an all-white palette of diamonds, rock crystal, pearls, and mother-of-pearl. We kept the fairytale effect, but as a strong one, not a cute or a girly one. It’s a new kind of fairytale for today. I’m happy because the designs are different, but the opulent effect remains the same. Without the presence of colour, light is free to travel through, and you are able to see the patterns much more clearly and to discover them in an intriguing way.
The Pantone Color Institute authoritative, announces every year the color that will dictate trends. The choice for 2022 goes to Pantone 17-3938 Very Peri: a new shade of blue, infused with red-violet nuances. Would you follow the selections of these colours in your designs for this year? Why?
As a matter of fact, I don’t look too much at trends. I see my role as perpetuating the Maison’s philosophy: freedom to create, giving women the freedom to wear pieces the way they like, and constantly pushing the boundaries of creation.
My approach is to be as free as possible when it comes to creation, in the themes that we choose, and to dream. I always start from a dream. What inspires and fascinates me is the freedom of the means used to achieve this dream. Sometimes the dream can be achieved with simple techniques and in this case, we will not reinvent a technique. However, we allow ourselves the possibility to test and play with new materials or techniques never used in High Jewelry as long as they help us to express this creative dream. I will also say that all this is a continuation for the Maison. Frédéric Boucheron was really a pioneer when it comes to creation and technique since the very beginning in 1858 and today, we try to perpetuate this tradition of innovation and daring by maintaining this freedom to create. Last but not least, I have the chance to work with Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, our CEO. She loves innovation as much as I do and she's not afraid to give me the freedom to create, even for things that seem crazy. I am very grateful to be so well supported.
The new Maharani Nacre Necklace and the new Churiyans Bracelets are stunning in designs and in the selection of stones. Why did you insist on using the culture pearls and not nature Gulf pearls that the Indian culture adorns?
When I create, I am always looking for the best esthetical result. Nature Gulf pearls are rare and among the finest in the world but naturally, each pearl is unique and don’t have the same diameter or shape as another one. As I wanted to obtain a homogenous result, I chose to use culture pearls and they were perfect for these pieces.
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