Boucheron’s creative director tells us how she maintains a delicate balance between honouring the French jewellery maison’s rich legacy and fearlessly innovating
Jewellery holds the power to conjure emotion and poetry, transforming precious metals and stones into meaningful mementos. As creative director for the storied French high jewellery house Boucheron, Claire Choisne executes this alchemy daily. She imbues each new collection with a spirit of artful rebellion, boldly pushing the boundaries of high jewellery while honouring the maison’s 158-year legacy of innovation.
In her decade-long tenure, Choisne has fearlessly followed her creative instincts, slowly gaining recognition for her singular style. Her latest collection, More is More, emerged while dreaming of joy during the constraints of the pandemic. Unbound by convention, she conceived loud, playful designs that celebrate exuberance and self-expression.
As Choisne tells it, her mission is to keep exploring, never pressing the “snooze” button. She seeks to question assumptions and convey emotions, just as house founder Frédéric Boucheron did when he audaciously mixed diamonds with rock crystal. In this interview, Tatler explores how she maintains that creative freedom while paying tribute to the codes of an iconic French jeweller.
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How do you balance your creative vision with the house codes of Boucheron?
I do not consider these notions as [being in opposition]. It’s always important for me to pay tribute to the maison’s history, and to stay true to Frédéric Boucheron’s vision. When I started working at Boucheron, I spent a lot of time going through the archives so I could thoroughly understand the philosophy of the maison. What fascinated me was the richness; there seemed to be no desire to synthesise the archives into various aesthetics; it was so varied. Frédéric Boucheron was the first to use rock crystal and mix it with diamonds, which was audacious at the time. Today, we perpetuate this tradition of innovation and daring by maintaining this freedom to create. Preciousness is generally associated with the size of a gem in people’s mind, and the more it shines, the more precious it is. For me, it’s the opposite. High jewellery is about emotions and poetry, and it is our duty to question [what precious means].
What inspired the selection of simple everyday objects in the More is More collection?
As we imagined [conceptualised] the collection during the pandemic, at the time the most precious thing for me was joy. I realised that you usually take it for granted but it’s so important in our lives. I could not take any more constraints; I felt like a rebel, and I wanted my team and I to design whatever made us happy, at scales that made us happy, expressing whatever we wished. I needed colours, extravagant volumes, playfulness in the designs, but also in the way high jewellery [could be worn]. After that, it was quite easy to imagine pieces such as a pocket or a hoodie string. These kinds of pieces show that you can wear your jewellery without transforming your style.
