August 11, 2023 |
A coffee bean – not for ordinary roasting but imagined by Cartier as precious clusters of yellow gold flora to emulate the elegance of nature. It’s a delectable adornment.
After its initial launch by creative director Jeanne Toussaint in 1938, the Grain de Café (coffee bean) collection’s newest iteration manifests in a play of light, finishes and volume. Created by 30 craftsmen and through 60 prototypes, the final output includes rings, pendants, earrings and brooches in delicate designs of intertwined beans, diamonds and fruit-like rubellite beads.
Cartier’s coffee beans are polished gold hollow grains with leaf-like texturing – lush. “A symbol of the creative freedom of the maison, Grain de Café transcends a literal translation of nature and results in a multi-sensory design,” said creative director of jewellery and watchmaking Marie-Laure Cérède.
The new face of the line, Elle Fanning follows in the footsteps of Toussaint and Grace Kelly who brought the “coffee bean” motif to its first fame. Grain de Café became imbued with the glamour of the 1950s French Riviera after a set was gifted to Grace Kelly for her Monaco wedding. A necklace originally from Toussaint’s 1955 design even reappears in the new collection as a nod to the roots of the maison.
The campaign glistens with a 45-second trailer by American director Alex Prager. As if it’s ripped straight out of Grace Kelly’s To Catch a Thief, Elle Fanning drives along the French Riviera’s winding roads in a vintage convertible car, looks through spectacles at speed boats along the coast, and wistfully stares off a balcony in a billowing pink ball gown. As the campaign comes to a close, Fanning gazes upon her own Cartier film – an extraordinarily meta sight – bridging the past and present at the core of Cartier.
Photography and film by Alex Prager.
