“Frédéric Boucheron was the first jeweller to open on Place Vendôme in 1893, the first to show jewels on velvet panels,” said Claire Choisne, Boucheron’s creative director, at the launch of the house’s latest haute joaillerie collection in February. “And, before that, he created the first necklace to not have a clasp.”
Choisne presents an extraordinary series of works during each couture season: elaborate set pieces that can be split up into several parts. But, on this occasion, honouring Boucheron’s innovative history, she derived her inspiration directly from Frédéric’s oeuvre. “I see the whole collection as a portrait of our founder,” she said.
One necklace, “The Address”, reiterates an original design based on the plan of the Place Vendôme, though Choisne’s is more geometric and sets white gold and baguette diamonds against black lacquer. But it is perhaps “The Spark” that says most about the man. Boucheron opposed the way women were constricted by both corsetry and protocol. With “The Spark”, he at least could offer them a piece of jewellery, shaped like a question mark and incorporating a spring mechanism, that they could put on unaided. Choisne’s version (seen above) has an updated mechanism and more graphically cut stones, but the sense of lightness and freedom, that’s all Frederic’s.