Light Fantastic
Technology and tradition commingle in Boucheron’s new high jewellery collection, Holographique.
WHAT IS IT like to get carte blanche once every year to create anything your heart desires? Claire Choisne of Boucheron knows; because every July, when Paris gears up for Haute Couture Week, the creative director of Place Vendôme’s oldest jewellery house reveals the Boucheron Carte Blanche high jewellery collection. No boundaries, nothing is impossible and everything is eyewateringly beautiful. This year’s collection is called Holographique and as its name suggests, it is a futuristic spectacle of light and colour.
“For a long time, I wanted to create a collection on the theme of colour, but I also wanted to find a new approach,” says Choisne. “That’s why I chose to work on the holographic theme – it’s the link between light and colour.” Harnessing the infinite beauty of light and its power to change one’s surroundings and therefore emotions, Choisne set off from two points of creative inspiration. The first was natural phenomena such as rainbows, and the perennially awe-inspiring northern lights, as well as the immediate feeling of wonder and joy you get while watching them. The second was the work of artists and architects such as Olafur Eliasson and Luis Barragan.
In Holographique, there are nine sets of 25 unique creations delving into this photosensitive phenomenon. To realise the prismatic effects of light envisioned in her mind, Choisne tapped into the worlds of technology and nature. “I wanted to create a gradation of intensity of colour throughout the collection to play with a whole range of colours. We used two different means to convey this holographic effect. For the first part of the collection, we worked with opals because they have this infinity of colours.”
And for the second, Choisne and team turned to scientific innovation. Working with a French manufacturer of high-performance industrial components, she succeeded in recreating a holographic effect for her jewellery pieces thanks to a special coating applied onto their smooth, expansive surfaces. Comprising molten titanium and silver oxide, it deposits a holographic effect onto the jewellery that can be as intense or subtle depending on the thickness of the coating.
The collection’s star piece is undoubtedly the Holographique set of necklace, cuff and ring, featuring paper-thin crystal blades fanning out and reflecting all the colours of the rainbow. Likewise, the Halo set is unforgettable as Choisne reprises Boucheron’s love of rock crystal and diamonds. But she also updates this combustive duo with a dazzling space-age holographic effect that shows us the maison’s modern spirit.
Says Choisne of her bold choice to bring industrial technology into haute joaillerie: “Of course we love the traditional techniques. After all, I am a jeweller, I went to jewellery school. But they’re like tools, instead of rules. So as with tools, it is possible to add new ones, thanks to innovation and technology. With them, you will be able to achieve more. So it’s not innovation for the sake of innovation. It’s really to start with this idea, this dream, and having all the freedom and skills to realise it.”
“The holographic theme is the link between light and colour.”