Elegant past
The colorful flowers of nature are an important theme in all forms of human artistic expression, including jewelry. In the 17th century, tulips were the star of Baroque jewelry. This flower, native to the Netherlands, amazed the French and became a symbol of high society. After entering the 18th century, with the transition from the passionate Baroque to the lightly dancing Rococo, the jewelry theme showed a clear naturalistic tendency, and elements with feminine characteristics such as vines, foliage and flowers became the protagonists of jewelry design, and an era of blooming flowers began.
It was not until the emerging artistic period that flowers once again became the protagonists of jewelry design. Masters such as René Lalique and Georges Fouquet combined flowers with female figures to create many beautiful and metaphorical jewelry pieces. At the 1889 Paris World's Fair, Tiffany's designer George Paulding Farnham won the gold medal with a set of 24 almost random enamel orchid brooches, and Tiffany's enamel jewelry produced between 1890 and 1900 is still a coveted treasure for jewelry players and collectors. By the Edwardian era at the end of the 19th century, the Garland Style, with Cartier as the main leader, first introduced platinum to jewelry creation, and its extraordinary strength and flexibility enabled a variety of bold designs while giving jewelry a lace-like light appearance. Bells and jewels have appeared: thorn flowers, ferns, pine cones, lilies... One of his masterpieces is the lily triangle brooch specially customised by Cartier Paris in 1906, and even the slender flower buds are decorated with rose-cut diamonds set with beaded teeth.
In 1934, Van Cleef & Arpels filed a patent for the Mystery Setting. This technique holds gemstones tightly together without revealing any metal prongs, making it ideal for floral jewelry designs. One of his masterpieces is the chrysanthemum brooch created in 1937, which is intimacyed with rubies as petals and diamonds as stems, vividly restoring the beauty of a red chrysanthemum blooming. At the same time, large gemstones are equally suitable for expressing the theme of flowers. For example, Queen Victoria's floral brooch, created by Cartier in 1952, is set with a pink diamond weighing 54.5 carats.
Today, flowers are still the preferred muse of choice for jewelry designers, not only because of their elegant temperament, but also because of their varied shapes and the beautiful meaning of being given to the female avatar. Harry Winston has created a whole garden (Winston Garden), blazing sunflowers, romantic and beautiful forget-me-not-forget-me, holy lotus flowers, beautiful lilies and dazzling tulips, with the diamond flowers that never fade away to interpret the beauty of flowers. Although modern high-end floral jewelry still continues the exquisite craftsmanship of the past, it also presents a more modern and simple approach, and the designers have simplified the shape of the flowers and used more neat geometric lines to create a more suitable flower-shaped jewelry for daily wear. Lightweight and feminine, they are small and flexible, making them the perfect choice for everyday wear.
B BLOSSOM 18K gold onyx diamond bracelet
B BLOSSOM 18K gold shell diamond necklace
B BLOSSOM 18K Gold Onyx Diamond Necklace
COLOR BLOSSOM 18K gold diamond bracelet
All by Louis Vuitton
The Flower of the Muse
Most floral jewelry, inspired by some kind of flower that exists in the real world, is dedicated to recreating the natural form of the flower in its shape. The Hortensia hydrangea series of jewelry pieces in Chaumet is based on the beloved flowers of Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon I. As the brand's muse, Queen Josephine's love for her younger daughter "Hortense" stemmed from her love of hydrangeas. The jewelry collection is known for its rich and dexterous shapes and thousands of flowers, and the three-dimensional process carefully stitches together many planes, making the hydrangea clusters rich and delicate, bright and attractive.
Everyone has their favorite flower, but for different reasons. Ms. Chanel loved camellias because the first bouquet of flowers that her intimate friend Arthur Capel gave her was camellias, or because the hermaphroditic and ambiguous "forbidden flower" reflected her maverick taste? The answer is unknown. But what is certain is that chanel Camélia camellia jewelry has always been committed to presenting a complete camellia pattern. The three-dimensional shape, which is mainly a hollow structure, retains a thin gap between the petals, creating a distinct sense of layering, showing a rounded and full flower bud.
Everyone has a heart for beauty, and loving flowers has never been a woman's patent. Most of the men who love flowers have gentle personalities, delicate minds, and rich emotions, just like Eve Lee, the fourth generation of the Piget brand. Yves Piaget. A lover of roses since childhood, he has used roses as a theme in jewelry creations since 1960. The Piaget Rose Rose collection is arguably the "most authentic" rose, as it faithfully recreates the winner rose of the 1982 Floral Awards, the "Earl Of Eve Rose". Presented in three forms: sculpture, cut-out and lace mesh, the cascading petals show the rich layers of roses.
Caresse d'Orchidées par Cartier collection of fine jewelry rings
Sortilège de Cartier collection of fine jewellery bracelets
All by Cartier
Abstract flower-shaped mood
Although there are as many as 450,000 kinds of flowers in the world, they still cannot satisfy us. Whether it is the Youtan flower in the Buddhist scriptures or the legendary flower on the other side, it all carries people's beautiful expectations and fantasies. Origami can also be used as a flower, and Tiffany's Paper Flowers collection draws inspiration from the art of paper-cutting, using the jeweled flower as a connection between the natural world and urban life. Its flower elements are composed of three petals, each of which is connected by rivets in a light posture, and the construction of the superimposed on each other makes the image of the flower more three-dimensional. The delicately "cut" petals are combined in an abstract and layered way, combining a free attitude and a modern texture. The extremely simple shape and line make the jewelry appear lively and light, full of youthful vitality, and is more suitable for wearing in daily life than the detailed fine jewelry design.
Bulgari, in its Sapphire Flower collection, vividly embodied the essence of the brand's design – colour. The petals are composed of sapphires of different colors, like the "seven-colored flowers" in fairy tales. Now in the Fiorever Wing Series, Bulgari has once again performed a flower that does not exist. The four-petaled flowers in full bloom present a unique eight-petal shape – patterned from the exquisite frescoes of Pompeii, conveying the warm and joyful attitude of the Romans. Its unique charm is hidden in the upwardly upturned petals with asymmetrical design, derived from the "en tremblant" inlay process of fine jewelry, which allows the four-petaled flowers on the inside to flutter slightly with the rhythm of the body, making them appear lighter and more agile. Although I know that this vivid and moving gesture is difficult to find in the world, I still can't help but want to touch Fangze.
Bulgari Fiorever's white 18K gold-set diamond earrings
Bulgari Fiorever Aria Series White 18K Gold Set Diamond Ring
Chopard For You series rings
The ultimate craftsmanship
Special craftsmanship that gives floral jewelry more possibilities from the point of view of color, texture and structure. In terms of color, enamel has always been the most suitable jewelry craft for depicting flowers. With a centuries-old tradition, enamel is good at expressing delicate and rich color variations, so as to achieve a wonderful effect. Buccellati does not stop there, but in the new fine jewelry watch with blue and green enamel, from the appearance of the green grassland blooming bright bluebells. The clear enamel combined with the exquisite hand-carved gold carving technique presents the simplest and most primitive life posture in the most complex and delicate way. Bright lacquer painting is also suitable for expressing the vivid colors of flowers, as Dior did in the Rose Dior Pop jewelry collection. Rose petals are painted in brightly coloured lacquer, while the intricate design of the stems echoes the poetic and varied rose branch shapes of Bois de Rose's fine jewellery collection, creating a dazzling and vibrant scene of flowers. In rose Dior Pré Catelan's fine jewelry collection, Dior directly exploits the color of the gem itself. The carved roses are three-dimensional and full, and coral, onyx, chalcedony and pink quartz present the red, pink and white of natural roses. At the same time, a new and complex setting process is used - setting diamonds on the pink crystals, so that each petal seems to drip with morning dew.
In terms of texture, metal never seems to be able to match the fragile delicacy of the petals. To this end, Boucheron spent years painstakingly developing a unique preservation technique that presents a natural world depicted in a surrealist way. In nature's Triomphante Collection of Nature's Fine Jewelry Collection, the brand works with petal stylists to treat carefully selected flowers with the utmost care, perfectly preserving their texture, lightness and velvety luster, without breaking. Combine sapphires, spessartine garnets, blue tourmalines and light yellow diamonds to realistically simulate the forms of silver lotus, violet, hydrangea and peony. Time thus solidifies in jewelry, and flowers are endowed with eternal life.
Harry Winston Forget Me-Not Jewelry Collection Rings
In terms of structure, van Cleef & Arpels' signature hidden inlay can show the undulating and fluctuating petals without a trace. In its fine jewelry collection Romeo and Juliet, inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the brand further combines this technique with the design of convertible jewelry to interpret the delicate roses that Juliet mentions in the dark balcony. The exclusive Navette Mystery Set razor-pointed concealment technique completely conceals the metal base under the overlapping, vibrant rubies to create a delicate rose image. The necklace pendant is detachable and can be combined with another floral brooch set with square cut diamonds to create the image of twin flowers.
The design inspiration and craftsmanship of floral jewelry are ever-changing, and the possibilities are endless. Whether figurative or abstract, whether as a symbol of status or a symbol of luck, whether it is to express the beauty of nature or to convey the meaning behind it, unlike the fleeting beauty of flowers, all jewels will bloom forever, and the sense of beauty will remain in the hearts of the wearer.
Source: Weekend Pictorial