Biennale Des Antiquaires: Summer Hues And Colored Stones
Every two years, the long-awaited Parisian event of the Biennale des Antiquaires is the – valid- excuse for high-jewelry houses to express their creativity in exclusive high-jewelry collections. Here are some of the highlights from this year’s event:
Fifty shades of pink
Chaumet decided to stay in line with the spirit of the maison and launched the 12 Vendôme collection. Pink coral beads surrounding the neck to delicately shape what could be a dickey of oval precious stones. Mounted on white gold, the rhodolite garnets and spinels are irregularly interlocked and linked to one another by small brilliant-cut diamonds in a funnel-shape as if the oval stones wanted to exit the jewelry piece, one by one in all discretion.
Vegetal hues
Three rows of green tsavorite garnets on each side of the Loup Décor necklace from Van Cleef and Arpels are buckled up by what ressembles their iconic ballerina but in fact it is no less than a diamond paved Venitian mask holding the aligned beads in a tassle of green stones. Almost like a shortened sautoir, the center of the piece is a half-mask paved with white diamonds, a pink sapphire on the forehead, and purple sapphires holding what our minds image like diamond feathers. The Venitian tradition was aimed for women’s discretion to remain mysterious… Hard to stay out of the picture with such a jewelry piece.
Sir Dior and his garden
The day after his first trunk show, Christian Dior decided to buy a house in a village next to Paris called Milly-la-Foret. To pay tribute to the place he loved and the garden he would take refuge in to re-energize, Victoire de Castellane imagined a vegetal-themed collection full of symbols starting with the name of Mr. Dior’s new residence. Famous for her color associations, the Dior designer interwinded black green and orange laquered petals, leaves set on yellow gold with diamond or tanzanites before setting rubellite and spessartite garnet as the pistils. All this complexity is attached like a pendant to a flat thick electric blue cotton necklace. We go free diving from top to bottom until we reach the drop of the paraiba tourmaline.
When French Shourouk defies Swiss Piaget
Imagined by Parisian jewelry designer Shourouk, the following necklace is the latest from the Rose Exotic collection by Piaget. Inspired by the origins of the famous jewelry collector Joséphine de Beauharnais – the French Empress and wife of Napoleon the 1st born in La Martinique, it pays homage to the Carribean island with a majestuous parrot necklace. Symetrically set on the upper part of the necklace, the pear shape orange garnet is surrounded by briolettes of aquamarines and green tourmalines with respectivelly two and five yellow and blue sapphires on each side. Linked by a round diamond, the cushion cut rubelitte is surrounded by the same colored stones set to end with a large pear-shape deep blue sapphire. If last summer all fashionistas dreamed about Shourouk, all jewelistas will now dream about Piaget.
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Photo Credit: Alma Karina Agency. Eleonor Picciottio is the Editor-In-Chief of The Eye of Jewelry. Launched in January 2015 The Eye of Jewelry is a plate-form dedicated to the world fine jewelry, high jewelry and jewelry in watchmaking.
