November 6, 2024 |
With the launch of its first boutique in New York, the esteemed 166-year- old jewellery house begins its next chapter in high design history.
Goutte Question Mark necklace in white gold, tourmalines, diamonds and rock crystal by BOUCHERON
In the glittering world of Boucheron, why wouldn’t you wear a sparkling, fully articulated, peacock feather necklace set with a shining Ceylon oval-cut sapphire of 6.34 carats and scintillating pavé diamonds and sapphires in white gold just because? “I’m obsessed with the fact that we need to have high jewellery pieces coming out of the safe,” says the house’s CEO, Hélène Poulit-Duquesne, of its newly reinterpreted Question Mark necklace, plucked straight from the brand’s 19th-century archives. This autumn, Boucheron is expanding with a 3,900- square-foot Madison Avenue boutique designed with art deco flair. Slick glass and metal collide with black lacquered wood; alabaster lamps are by the designer Pierre Chareau; straw marquetry is on display; and a green, lacquered, wooden chest of drawers is in the shape of an exquisite emerald. One of the walls is plastered with Atelier d’Offard wallpaper in the style of old New York graffiti, but using Boucheron advertising campaigns from the past. Back in the late- 19th and early-20th centuries, the likes of the Astors and Vanderbilts would travel from the US to get their Boucheron in Paris, so in 1903, Louis Boucheron – son of the house’s founder, Frédéric – opened an office in New York to manage client relations and orders. Now, more than 120 years later, the city is getting its first Boucheron boutique.
Goutte Question Mark necklace in white gold, tanzanites, diamonds and rock crystal by BOUCHERON
For the uninitiated, the French heritage jewellery brand was founded in 1858 and Frédéric was the first jeweller to set up shop on the historic Place Vendôme in Paris, opening its doors there in 1893. Fourteen years earlier, in 1879, he had invented a clasp-less necklace – the aforementioned Question Mark – reportedly making him the first jeweller of his kind to do that too. “In fact, he wanted to free women because, at that time, you had to put on your high jewellery with a lady’s maid,” says Poulit-Duquesne. “Inventing a necklace without a clasp allowed women to be free.” Also worth noting: in 2024, Boucheron is very much a high jewellery brand for the female gaze. Alongside Poulit-Duquesne, its creative director, Claire Choisne, has been in her post since 2011, making Boucheron one of the few European high jewellery houses to be spearheaded by women.
“I’m very excited because I feel that we are telling a story that is very appealing,” says Poulit-Duquesne. “We do have a unique story that we are telling everywhere in the world, but we’re entering every country with the same story. The first point, which differentiates them from other brands, is that Boucheron is really about innovation.” She adds: “We also have big collectors in the US.” And they’re particularly interested in those extremely rare, hard-to-find antique pieces by the brand, like tiaras, big brooches and art deco necklaces. So much so that Boucheron has created reproductions of some of the most famous archive pieces for the New York boutique: think 1899’s bow brooch commissioned by Caroline Astor’s husband, a necklace made to order for the American socialite Marie-Louise Mackay that same year or the aigrette that Cornelius Vanderbilt bought for his daughter Gertrude in 1897.
Goutte Question Mark necklace, verso side, in white gold, diamonds and rock crystal by BOUCHERON
To celebrate its expansion, the design of the famous Question Mark necklace has been turned on its head: now it’s reversible, with the option to turn it around and reveal the glimmering rock crystal and diamonds that lie on the other side of the rubellites, tanzanites and green tourmalines. “It’s really about [saying] why not?” Poulit-Duquesne says when I ask what inspired the reversible style. “It took us a long time in our atelier to make it happen as, technically, it was complicated, because when you reverse it, it has to have exactly the right sizing and fitting.” The new necklaces also draw from the clean lines of an 1884 piece that was another special order for Vanderbilt.
In the shimmering universe of high jewellery, Boucheron undoubtedly has an incredible history and a unique point of view. When tasked with describing the aesthetic for the unfamiliar, Poulit-Duquesne talks of it as being kawaii, the cultural term for cute and innocent in Japan. “It’s very specific in terms of design, and very modern and bold,” she tells me. “It’s the more classical pieces that are beautiful but they’re more on the kawaii side –they are cute and floral and sweet, but we also have very bold designs.”
Goutte Question Mark necklace in white gold, rubellites, diamonds and rock crystal by BOUCHERON
Taken from Issue 73 of 10 Magazine – RISING, RENEW, RENAISSANCE – out NOW. Order your copy here.
Collage Artist JAMES STOPFORTH
Text KRISTEN BATEMAN
