Goodbye, gold: Dior and Chopard use space-age alloys to shape new jewellery masterpieces
- Hong Kong designers Wallace Chan, Cindy Chao and Edmond Chin are pioneers in the use of titanium, regarded as the ‘perfect material’
The use of metals beyond the conventional gold and platinum is changing forever the notion of what constitutes high jewellery. Alloys such as titanium and oxidised silver juxtaposed with gemstones create precious wearable art.
It’s almost as if a revolution in jewel art is taking place right before our eyes – a beautiful transformation for which just gold or platinum are not enough.
Dior Joaillerie crafts the À Versailles Salon d’Apollon Bracelet in darkened silver, together with 18-ct pink, yellow and white gold, and diamonds. Used in certain settings, the oxidised silver lends depth to the jewel and conveys a mystery directly inspired by 18th-century jewellery-making techniques,” says Victoire de Castellane, artistic director of Dior Joaillerie.
Although titanium is a chemical element, the metal form used in jewellery is an alloy containing aluminium and vanadium that is used by the aircraft industry due to its light weight and strength.
Titanium dominates Chopard’s new Red Carpet Collection. An orchid-shaped ring in titanium has petals coated with a fine layer of white ceramic, while the stem and buds are adorned with tsavorites. Symbolic of nature’s game of seduction, a white opal cabochon acts as the orchid’s labellum, radiating the pinkish shimmer of tinted titanium, enhanced by pink sapphires and diamonds.
Boucheron’s new Nature Triomphante High Jewellery Collection references Frédéric Boucheron’s taste for innovation. “For the Lierre Givré necklace, the idea was to get the feeling that a real ivy branch was wrapped around the neck of the woman. It was important to work with a light metal – titanium is four-and-a-half times lighter than gold,” says Claire Choisne, creative director of the French maison.
“I also wanted it to evoke a branch of ivy on which the snow would have fallen. Titanium can be treated in colour, so we used a slightly bluish titanium, which gives a feeling of coldness.”
Inspired by the winter thaw, “We worked on the ‘sound’ of a jewel for the first time. When the leaves tremble, they tingle like frost,” explains Choisne.