Frédéric Boucheron was fascinated with the beauty of nature, and he portrayed it in its every detail. One of the Maison’s historical motifs, the Plume de Paon, appeared at Boucheron for the first time in the 1860s on hair jewelry and brooches. A symbol of lightness, it constitutes a true challenge for the jeweler, who seeks to loyally render the movement, curves, volume and finesse of a natural peacock feather. More than a century-and-a-half later, the Creative Studio continues to reinvent the Plume de Paon. This season, the Maison pays tribute to its airy grace through ten new designs that nestle against the skin, in the hair, or along the ear, as if to murmur the Boucheron workshops’ secrets of savoir-faire.
Featherweight
The use of titanium, a metal three times lighter than gold, enables the jewelry craftsmen to lighten up these new Plume de Paon pieces by a few precious grams, lending them an exquisite ethereality. Moreover, “openworking” – a signature technique of High Jewelry which consists of removing metal from beneath the stones – further lightens the piece and allows the light to filter through in both directions. The sparkle of diamonds and colored stones is greatly increased.
Truer than life
For the first time, the collection presents a gradation of colors that mirror those of a real peacock feather. These hues do not exclusively emanate from the diamonds, sapphires, tsavorites and tanzanites that are set into it. An anodization treatment is applied to the titanium to create the precious gradation of bluish greens that evanesces at the extremities. Anodization is a surface oxidation process that both protects and tints titanium.
Airy litheness
In a tribute to Frédéric Boucheron’s vision, the Studio designs incredibly realistic peacock feather creations that flutter with the lightest breeze. The various parts of the feather are articulated with a special system that liberates each strand to sway independently, free as air. These individually hand-crafted details mimic the supple movement of plumage.
New ways to wear it
The Maison also expands its white gold and diamond collection. With a bracelet, ring, brooch, earrings and necklace, the Plume de Paon may be worn in new ways, keeping pace with today’s styles. Here, the iconic Question Mark necklace is reinterpreted for a choker version; an ear adornment offers a new asymmetrical look.