French luxury jewellery brand Chaumet have just launched their latest collection, Torsade de Chaumet, and re-opened their exclusive London Bond Street store. The brand founded in 1780 and became royal jeweller to Empress Josephine. That same exquisite craftsmanship still exists now, in their pieces created in Paris’ famous Place Vendôme.
Their headquarters at 12 Place Vendôme contains their workshops, flagship boutique and a range of luxury suites where clientelle can relax and get to know the jewellery. It’s an architectually-stunning building that has just been renovated, and it houses many priceless and historic French antiques. The new Chaumet collection celebrates the location of this iconic headquarter – the Place Vendôme – and this location’s bustle and life. In particular, the sweep of the frieze wrapping the Vendôme Column.
Like a series of photo snapshots, the pieces in the Torsade de Chaumet collection manages to convey the liveliness of movement through gold and stones. It also celebrates the art of the line which has always been as aspect in Chaumet’s creations. This, and their known emblematic blue jewel tones. In this new collection, the pieces are somehow infused with life. Graceful coils, spirals and twists in the pieces suggests the ceaseless movement of life or the dynamic of love. A way, perhaps, of evoking the extraordinary love story between Napoléon and Joséphine, as the Maison, with its history as an imperial jeweller, celebrates the bicentenary of Emperor Napoleon’s death.
Torsade de Chaumet offers pieces that are both light and bold, contemporary and timeless. White jewels add radiance and are used to create the lines and coils in the pieces. Embracing colour, the other jewels often come in duos of diamonds and sapphires, rubies or emeralds. Entwined or suspended, regularly punctuated or whimsically sprinkled throughout the piece, they are highlighted by the ‘movement’ of the twists.
All of the precious gemstones were selected individually for their extraordinary aura. This indefinable alchemy takes into account the intensity and the homogeneity of the colour, the perfection of the cut and polish, but also that indescribable feeling you get when looking at a beautiful stone.
The new collection comes just as the brand have re-opened their Bond Street UK flagship boutique and turned it into a real destination for luxury jewellery lovers. The equally as luxurious decor here features naturalistic frescoes, imprints of grasses and plants and straw marquetry.
On the ground floor, noble materials contrast with digital screens that replace the traditional cases to show off the Maison’s creations in a more modern manner.
Then, emblematic of elegant Victorian houses, the staircase has been specially recreated for this prestigious Bond Street address, taking into consideration the city’s heritage in it’s design. Decorated with a unique contemporary fresco, it illustrates the Chaumet combination of tradition and modernity. Ribbon link and laurel leaf motifs, shaded from beige to dark blue, provide a visual sense of elevation that invites visitors to explore the first floor.
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