A bee is a well-known symbol of the Chaumet House. Since when and why this insect?
The bee is the main Napoleonic symbol. Since 1802, the founder of the house, Marie-Etienne Nito, was Bonaparte's personal jeweler; he also made coronation regalia for the grand ceremony of 1804, when Napoleon became emperor of France. A bee is also a personal symbol of the emperor himself. On the coat of arms of Napoleon, a bee as a symbol of immortality and resurrection occupied a prominent place. It was with the help of a bee that Napoleon tried to combine his young dynasty with the dynasty of pre-revolutionary France. Already being a prisoner on the island of Elba and deprived of the state coat of arms, Napoleon ordered to make a new coat of arms for himself. It was a simple white canvas on which three golden bees were depicted .... Therefore, Attrape-moi is perhaps the most sentimental and most picturesque collection of Chaumet House. Her ideas are based on a web, a spider and a bee - a symbol of the brand since the time of Napoleon. Attrape-moi was originally a web and ring story. Then I added a spider and then a bee. Then he decided to make something brighter and more playful, and at the same time fit all the insects on one necklace at once.
Later, I came up with Chaumet to continue the beloved collection, even more sentimental and picturesque - Bee my Love, which is also based on these hard-working and beautiful insects.
Lionel, before joining Chaumet House, you worked at other major jewelry companies. What attracted you exactly to Chaumet, and how complicated was the adaptation to the 200-year-old established traditions of the House?
Prior to joining Chaumet, I had experience working with Cartier House, which also carefully preserves its traditions.
Of course, for me, as for any other creative person, the most difficult is the freedom of expression. In companies with a long history and traditions, oddly enough it sounds, the freedom of creativity is expressed in the best way.
Here you can try to express your vision, starting with pencil sketches. The styles of different eras are so diverse that having such archives in front of you, the experience of many generations, each artist feels that you can create “beyond”, and this is very important! And I consider it a great success in my career that I work today as the art director of Chaumet. At the same time, it is also a huge challenge. First of all, to myself.
Please tell us about your recent collection. Why does it so attract buyers in different countries of the world, including Russia?
If you are talking about the Le Grand Frisson collection that I created, then yes, it is very popular in Russia. It seems to me that the love of Russians for the creations of the House of Chaumet is laid down historically. Even in tsarist times, representatives of the Russian nobility pampered themselves with amazing jewelry. Among the fans of the brand were Golitsyn, Obolensky, Orlov, Prince Yusupov, Princess Maria Pavlovna and many others. It seems to me that if they lived in our time, they would also be able to appreciate my collection, which is distinguished by its unusual forms and the use of exceptional and unique precious and semiprecious stones - tsavorites, demantoids, garnets, pink sapphires ...
This choice was made to give the collection sincerity, and contrasting stones are designed to symbolize the unpredictability and ardor of love feelings. This is very consonant with the Russian character.
I'm still intrigued by the Bee My Love collection. What is she talking about? What did you think when you created it?
When I work, I never try to copy what has already been done before me. I try to find a detail that can be the starting point of the entire collection. In the jewelry of the Bee My Love collection, I tried to reflect on the love story of a spider and a bee, which was entangled in its web. For me, the web is a symbol of how you can entangle someone with your love, strangle in the arms. Honestly, all the collections of Chaumet House are very symbolic, they are full of hints, full of feelings. It seems to me that this is what attracts fans of our jewelry. Each Chaumet product is a story and a manifestation of true feelings.
I reasoned a bit, played with the images, and came to the conclusion that the jewelry in this collection should be light, playful, bright. From here cabochon cuts and multi-colored precious and semiprecious stones of the most unusual shades appeared. I’m not a gemologist, but I selected a palette of stones so that the collection evoked new feelings and emotions - here, honey, and sky blue, and bright green, and pink, and lilac ... It seems that the bee is about to flap its wings and fly away, leaving the spider alone with its web.
Not so long ago, we were fortunate enough to meet in Dubai with Sophie Marceau, a famous French actress who agreed to become the “face” of Chaumet. What do you as a creative director of the House think about this collaboration?
I believe that the image of Sophie Marceau, her femininity and elegance, as well as possible correspond to what Chaumet House creates today. She is a great example of a modern young woman for whom we come up with more and more collections of jewelry and watches. It seems to me that true femininity has no boundaries and is timeless. Therefore, if women all over the world associate our creations with the image of Sophie Marceau, then the words "elegance" and "sophistication" have not lost their meaning. In my opinion, this is a very successful collaboration.
What do you think, in our time of constant financial crises, high jewelry art is in demand in the world markets?
High jewelry art is, first of all, art, and only then the cost of materials - gold, platinum or precious stones. High jewelry art is a very emotional and subtle matter, in my opinion. At all times, there have been and will be connoisseurs of luxurious jewelry. Therefore, each such product cannot be simply "cute", given the order of prices for them. It should attract to itself, like a magnet, and not "let go" of its owner. I think that this type of art will always be in demand, and there will be people who will not buy jewelry for investment and not so that all this beauty gather dust in a bank safe, but in order to proudly wear them during relevant events.
By the way, House Chaumet, despite the fact that we are part of the LVMH group, is still very small. Therefore, all our collections are produced in very limited editions, which we are not going to expand. And speaking of global markets, we are not represented in the USA, for example.
Why?
It seems to me that Chaumet is jewelry that does not match the taste of Americans. They are more pragmatic, and we want to achieve emotional attachment.
So, the Chaumet "golden bees" will "circulate" mainly over Europe?
No, still over the Middle and Far East, over Russia and other countries. Our jewelry, watches and accessories will be where creativity is most valued ... We have customers who don’t need the most expensive diamonds. These people are well educated and travel a lot. It is more important for them to acquire something unique first, and not profitably to place their investments. We work for them.
Thank you for the interesting conversation, Lionel. I wish you and your team new creative successes.
