THE GOOD LIFE Jewellery But what of the jewellery? There were


gasps of surprise and delight as Choisne explained that each creation can be plucked from its vase and worn as a jewel. A thistle transforms into a two-finger ring, an iris can be worn as a shoulder brooch, that dragonfly becomes a single, shoul- der-dusting earring. ‘I wanted to focus on the plant first, not


the jewel,’ says Choisne. ‘All the pieces are conceived as part of a larger composition, but they’re also designed to be picked, like you would pick a flower in a field, and worn.’ It’s a typically avant-garde statement from a designer described as the ‘Willy Wonka of Place Vendôme’. For Boucheron’s annual Carte Blanche High Jewellery collection, Choisne has freedom to realise her most fantastical ideas, using any means neces- sary. That means looking beyond the traditional high jewellery lexicon to materi- als and techniques developed for science or engineering. In 2018’s Nature Triomphante collection, Choisne collaborated with a French envi- ronmental artist to preserve real flower pet-


als. In 2020, aerogel, a substance used by NASA to capture stardust in space, was en- cased in rock crystal to offer the wearer a ‘drop of sky’. The 2021 Holographique col- lection employed a high-tech spray to recre- ate rainbows of light through water. And last year’s Or Bleu collection included jewellery sculpted from 3D-printed, polymer-bound black sand, using a technique developed for the aeronautics sector. ‘Questioning the notion of preciousness


has always been in Boucheron’s DNA, ever since Frédéric Boucheron first used rock crystal,’ says Choisne. ‘My aim, in the same way as Frédéric, is to demonstrate that cer- tain materials not considered noble at first sight are actually just as precious as gold and diamonds.’ In the pitch-black conclusion of Imper- manence, a poppy’s matte-black titanium petals are adorned with Vantablack, the darkest material ever created, which ab- sorbs 99.965 per cent of light. The effect is dramatic and disorientating, like peering into a black hole of nothingness, while black spinels glimmer gently at the flower’s heart.


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IT’S A TYPICALLY AVANT-GARDE STATEMENT


FROM A DESIGNER DESCRIBED AS THE ‘WILLY WONKA OF PLACE VENDÔME’


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