The Next Wave

Men have dominated high-jewellery design for centuries, but no longer. Female creatives have now risen to the uppermost echelons of the world's elite houses, bringing with them an unprecedented approach both technically and philosophically. Meet the personalities upending the industry.

- Paige Reddinger

BOUCHERON

Claire Choisne

A tall, soft-spoken, and ethereal figure in a black column gown, Claire Choisne greeted guests as they entered a softly lit space within Boucheron's Vendôme headquarters last Place Vendôme are June. They were there to take in the Parisian house's latest head-spinning array of futuristic jewellery for its Carte Blanche collection as Choisne, the creative director behind the avantgarde pieces, detailed how they were made, gently explaining their extreme technicality. Her designs complex, she started a team dedicated solely to innovation research in 2018. "At the beginning, I was scared that people wouldn't understand," says Choisne. "And year after year, I understood. A woman who buys a nice couture dress with something creative doesn't want something boring. She can be open to something more interesting."

'Interesting is putting it mildly; the room was filled with wearable art. Palladium-finished aluminium epaulettes crafted like waves crashing over shoulders, a nearly 1.5m-long diamond-drop necklace evoking ice formations, and a collar necklace fashioned from rock-crystal discs adorned with 4,542 diamonds that glittered like ripples of water were just a few of the masterpieces on display.

If that sounds cool, it's just a taste of what Choisne has been whipping up lately at the 166-year-old jewellery house. Unrivalled in her inventiveness-a sort of mad scientist of high jewellery-she has created necklaces made with holographic coatings more typically seen on aviation-runway lights as well as with Aerogel, a material used by NASA to capture stardust.