The annual Cartier Prize for Watchmaking Talents of Tomorrow, spotlighting the best up-and-coming talent in the watchmaking industry, is a savvy indicator of who will be disrupting the industry in a decade.

For the prize’s 2026 iteration, the watchmaking apprentices and technicians were asked to create a watch inspired by the movements of a pendulum as it swings backwards and forwards, for the theme ‘Shifting the balance: Reading and understanding time differently’.

The students, from Switzerland, France and Belgium, took a non-traditional approach to the topic, with the 12 finalists developing their concepts over three months, supported throughout by their mentors.

The final designs were considered by a jury comprising Roy Davidoff, a specialist in vintage watches and co-founder of Roy & Sacha Davidoff SA; Pascale Lepeu, director of the Cartier Collection; Nathalie Marielloni, curator at the Musée international d'horlogerie; Pascal Ravessoud, vice-president of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, watchmaking specialist and collector; and Kari Voutilainen, independent watchmaker. They selected six winners – three watchmaking apprentices and three technicians – who will receive a Cartier watch, with the first prize winner in each category also offered an internship with Cartier.

Aymeric Peters from Belgium won first prize in the Apprentice Watchmakers category, with the winning design meditating on suspended time. Joint second prize was awarded to Layla Sluysmans and Edouard Nicod, who considered ideas on slowing down and opposites, respectively.

Arthur Choquet won the first technician’s prize, with a creation that intertwined the importance of architecture throughout. Adam Deroche scooped second place, asking what would happen if time stood still, while Adrien Stefenelli took third prize for unpicking the echo.

For Cartier, the award is an essential part of supporting and mentoring young people in their passions. ‘This award is very significant to Cartier, as the maison has always felt it had a responsibility to inspire vocations and nurture talent in order to pass on its vision of watchmaking and its dedication to craftsmanship,’ says Karim Drici, Cartier chief operating officer. ‘It is exciting to see the passion of these young watchmakers: the competition provides a space for free expression and emotional exchange, where technical expertise, creativity, and innovation meet. ‘

Drici adds: ‘The prize, first launched in 1995 by the Cartier Watchmaking Institute and dedicated to young watchmaking students, is a direct expression of that commitment. It allows us to stand alongside those who want to pursue this career and will shape the watchmaking of tomorrow.

‘Through this prize, we want to give young watchmakers the opportunity to express themselves fully, from design all the way through to creating a timepiece. The goal is not only to showcase their technical skills but also their creativity, because both will define the future of watchmaking. Above all, the prize is about enriching their professional training. Observing these young talents makes us particularly confident for the future. Most are around 18-20 years old – and yet they demonstrate remarkable concentration, commitment, and maturity.’

cartier.com

Among the hundreds of dazzling treasures on show at NGV’s ‘Cartier’ exhibition, Pascale Lepeu would, in an emergency, save the Model A mystery clock first. It’s an horological marvel in which diamond-encrusted hands appear to float inside a crystal block with no visible mechanism. For Lepeu, Cartier Collection director, the 1914 timepiece is of ‘perfect proportions, representing all three dimensions of Cartier: the precious object maker, watchmaker and jeweller combined’.

The clock is restrained by the maison’s usual opulent standards, displayed in the most sober of the themed galleries housing the largest Cartier exhibition ever held in Australia. Designed by Rotterdam-based Sabine Marcelis, principal of her eponymous studio, and Paul Cournet of Cloud, the carpeted spaces lead visitors on a colour-coded arc through the evolution of the nearly 180-year-old maison.

Co-curated with the V&A’s Helen Molesworth, the exhibition builds on the original 2025 London show, with a much larger presentation of nearly 400 jewels and timepieces, deepened by a trove of archival material and an original soundtrack by Ai Yamamoto and Erkki Veltheim. Notably, the brutalist-era NGV allows the exhibits more room to breathe, compared to the 19th-century V&A.

A 27m-long glass mirror, progressing in an ombre from yellow to pink and deep red, greets visitors at the entrance. 'It reflects light and introduces you to the colour palette of what’s to come, embodying how my world and Cartier’s collide,' says Marcelis. It leads to the Manchester tiara, an early example of Cartier’s signature Garland style. Made in 1903 for the Dowager Duchess of Manchester, its 1,500-plus diamonds sparkle as it sits solo under the spotlight.

From there, the exhibition sweeps across decades and continents, charting its innovations through the stories of its patrons and heiresses to fortunes – Daisy Fellowes, Barbara Hutton, Doris Duke – as much as the objects themselves. New for Australian audiences is a collection of early-20th-century pieces commissioned by opera legend Dame Nellie Melba, featuring her beloved turquoise and diamonds alongside Cartier’s pioneering use of platinum.

In a bold yellow room, displays trace the Cartier brothers’ world of inspiration, spanning Egypt, India, China, Japan and Iran. Among many highlights is a necklace commissioned by the Maharaja of Patiala, its 2,930 diamonds anchored by a 234.65ct De Beers yellow diamond – lost after Indian independence and rediscovered in 1998, stripped of its finest stones, which Cartier replaced with replicas.

Next, an emerald cut-like volume distils the Cartier style that came to prominence at the 1925 Paris International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (its centenary recently honoured). It was when the celebrated Tutti Frutti creations emerged, luscious clusters of carved rubies, sapphires and emeralds made possible by Indian coloured gemstones and artisans. 'It was neither Indian nor Parisian. It simply did not exist before and we made something entirely new,' says Lepeu.

The mood shifts in the Obsession with Stones room. Its glass central volume glows at the edges, making visitors 'feel like you’re inside a gemstone', says Marcelis. Among vintage and modern pieces, like a 2015 bracelet with a 189.345ct Australian black opal, space is dedicated to Jeanne Toussaint, creative director from 1933 to 1970, who elevated the panther motif into an icon. A highlight: a clip brooch owned by the Duchess of Windsor, its platinum and diamond cat resting on a 152.35ct cabochon sapphire. 'To create a jewel with an animal that represents power and independence, that was really new and shocking,' says Lepeu, of an era when women were finding greater freedoms.

A metallic-grey Watches and Clocks room acts as a palate cleanser before the shock of green in the Film and Celebrity room, where Elizabeth Taylor’s Burmese ruby and diamond necklace from third husband Mike Todd sits near outré pieces commissioned by Mexican film star Maria Felix, including articulated snake and crocodile necklaces in diamonds and emeralds that show off Cartier’s technical prowess.

The show culminates in a rotunda housing 24 tiaras, including a pair of turquoise and diamond headpieces worn by sisters Lady Nancy Astor and Lady Phyllis Brand, shown together for the first time in decades, and the 1902 Scroll tiara, worn most recently by Rihanna on the cover of W magazine.

Newer pieces sit beside older ones throughout, and a continuous narrative rooted in culture and innovation emerges. Lepeu calls it Cartier’s vocabulary: ‘a new jewel is a new sentence using our words’, a language that remains spellbinding more than a century on.

‘Cartier’ is on display 12 June to 4 October 2026, at NGV International, Melbourne

ngv.vic.gov.au

For the director of Cartier high jewellery creation, Jacqueline Karache-Langane, the story of a piece begins with the stone. It is a philosophy that guides the new high jewellery collection, ‘Le Chœur des Pierres’, which unites gems, from intensely coloured Colombian emeralds, to uniquely shaped diamonds and weighty topazes.

The series is named after a play on words – chœur can mean a chorus of voices or, without the ‘h’, as cœur, refer to the heart – which reflects the multi-faceted nature of the jewellery itself. Necklaces and rings showcase the singular nature of the stones while also incorporating sculptural swirls of precious metals and vividly coloured materials.

The collection encompasses more than 125 pieces, requiring more than 85,000 hours of work. Familiar Cartier motifs are interspersed throughout, from the geometric structure of a row of diamond-studded pendants in the Olorra necklace to the Tutti Kanya necklace, an interpretation of the classic Tutti Frutti style, with an exceptional 30.33ct engraved Zambian emerald at its heart. In the Haryma necklace, a jewelled tiger skulks over five imperial topazes.

Classical motifs and stones, too, are given an avant-garde spin, demonstrated in the fluid lines of the Tellura necklace, where the unique shapes of 30 diamonds lead a design that appears to tremble on the neck of the wearer. In the Specula ring, triangular diamonds are paired with onyx for a modern take on the Toi & Moi style, while elsewhere, rare cognac-coloured diamonds sink into rings lined with brown diamond cabochons.

‘Each gemstone is an encounter, an alchemy that resonates with our vision and our quest for the Cartier ideal,’ says Karache-Langane. ‘The creation serves the stone, revealing its nuances, its brilliance, its sparkle and its inner vibration.’

cartier.com

Long-lasting watch design strikes a harmonious balance between form and function, a delicate harmony epitomised in a recent cohort of watch releases.

From Vacheron Constantin’s Historiques American 1921 watch, which offsets a clean dial with a richly coloured strap, to Omega’s discreet platinum Constellation Observatory watch, tone is muted throughout.

For TAG Heuer, texture reigns on a Carrera chronograph with a purple sunray brushed dial. Texture, too, is interpreted in icy blue in Montblanc’s Iced Sea Automatic Date 0 Oxygen watch in stainless steel.

Elsewhere, the Richard Mille RM 72-01 Automatic Lifestyle flyback chronograph sits at the intersection of technicality and legibility, while the tiger iron dial on the Rolex GMT-Master II watch makes for a desirable contrast.

For the Tank Louis Cartier and Tudor Black Bay 54, minimalism reigns, updated in contemporary colour.

Meanwhile, subtle interplays on the dial, seen on the IWC Ingenieur Automatic 42 and the Patek Philippe Calatrava 6007G-011 watches, will appeal to those looking for a more subtle embellishment.

This article appears in the May 2026 Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

Cartier’s 2026 collection recalibrates loved watches, offering a series of returns to canonical shapes. All are recognisable, but reconsidered with new materials, finer mechanics, or a more considered surfaces, some more unexpected than others.

From the jewellery workbench to the movement lab, the breadth of Cartier’s new releases cannot be understated. It underlines the brand’s standing in collector circles, having had a massive rise on the auction scene as well as climbing the list in terms of turnover. Even to an untrained eye, it is clear that creativity is the strongest factor of Cartier’s resurgence, and at Watches and Wonders this year, it shows.

Baignoire

The Baignoire has stole the limelight on many an Instagrammed wrist lately, and now gets a new surface treatment at Watches and Wonders 2026. The bangle-bracelet version, introduced in 2023, now features the Clou de Paris motif throughout its length. Appearing as glittering armour, its bracelet, case, and dial has been rendered in monochrome, tactile yellow gold. The hobnail pattern, a Cartier staple since the 1920s, is pressed into the gold through a craft process that preserves volume and evenness, then hand-polished to amplify each point’s definition. An almost otherworldy diamond version adds 171 brilliant-cut stones fitted across case and bangle, with a snow-set dial. The result is a jewellery watch where texture transforms the sleek Baignoire, opening a new chapter for the petite charmer.

Cartier Privé

Heralding the tenth edition of Cartier Privé, Les Opus marks a decade of collector-focused releases by bringing back three shapes from previous chapters: the Tank Normale, the Tortue Chronographe Monopoussoir, and the enigmatic Crash Squelette. All three are rendered in platinum with a burgundy accent running through straps, dial details, and the rare ruby cabochon crown. The Crash has been the brand’s heavy-hitting auction star for years and will undoubtedly get the most attention with a new skeleton configuration featuring the Manufacture 1967 MC movement. Hand-hammered bridges are shaped as Roman numerals, and 142 components are packed into the distorted case. Limited to 150 pieces, it is the Privé series’ most technically involved piece to date, and a new Cartier Privé La Collection sub-line launches alongside, in yellow gold.

Myst de Cartier

The Myst de Cartier is a clasp-free jewellery watch, a discreet nod to time keeping. It is structured like a strand of talismans threaded onto a flexible bracelet, and worn by sliding it over the wrist. The square case sits at the centre, flanked by alternating pavé and lacquered modules underlining the strong tradition of metiers d’art within the manufacture. On the yellow gold version, 634 brilliant-cut diamonds are paired with hand-painted black lacquer lines, applied one by one at the Maison des Métiers d’Art in Switzerland; 30 hours of gem-setting create the bead-set bracelet’s depth and perspective. A white gold version dispenses with the lacquer entirely, covering the same structure in 986 diamonds for a monochrome, shape-shifting effect.

Roadster

The Roadster has long been a hidden gem from the Maison. This year it returns to the Cartier line-up 23 years after its original 2002 debut. The bold, rounded design language is intact, featuring a trapezoidal case, a large tactile conical crown and a speedometer-inspired striated dial. It is still framed by a bezel with corner rivets, but proportions, finishes, and ergonomics have been reworked by a team of over 100 artisans. New versions will be available in steel, yellow gold, and two-tone gold and steel, in medium and large sizes. Movements are the Manufacture 1847 MC (large) and 1899 MC (medium), both self-winding. The redesigned bracelet uses a QuickSwitch system for strap interchangeability, with polished and brushed surface contrasts sharpening the overall form.

Santos-Dumont

The Santos-Dumont takes its most substantial update in years, centred on a new large model in yellow gold, fitted with what appears to be a soft-feeling 15-row mesh bracelet with 394 links. Each link is 1.15 mm thick and is a construction that references the Maison’s flexible gold bracelets of the 1920s. The standout dial is a gilt version in polished obsidian, a volcanic stone from Mexico sliced to 0.3 mm. Tiny trapped air bubbles give each piece a unique iridescent quality, and the gold-and-black combination is timeless. The movement is the hand-wound Manufacture 430 MC, and two further LM versions offer silvered satin-finish dials in yellow gold and platinum, with two new models in yellow gold and two-tone rounding out the range.

Tortue

The Tortue can perhaps be classed as the connoisseur’s choice, and its shape has been in continuous production since 1912. This time, it arrives at Watches & Wonders in a substantially reworked form, with the Manufacture’s design studio having softened and enlarged the proportions. The traditional guilloché dial has been replaced with an embossed relief motif, and the traditional rail track has been simplified into a row of dots, a detail drawn from an archive piece from 1922. Five versions in yellow gold, white gold, and rose gold, with and without diamonds, span small and mini sizes. A platinum LM model takes the baguette-cut diamond treatment, with 46 stones on the bezel and a guilloché dial. An evocative Tortue Panthère Métiers d’Art creation is also offered: a champlevé enamel piece extending the panther motif from dial to case middle, limited to 100 pieces each in white and yellow gold.

Santos Chronograph

The Santos de Cartier Chronograph is a revision of the 2020 model, scaled up to a large 47.5 x 39.8 mm case and fitted with a reworked dial featuring alternating satin and sunray finishes. Three sub-dials carry seconds at 6, minutes at 3, and hours at 9, with gold or rhodium rings framing each counter. The automatic 1904-CH MC movement offers 47 hours of power reserve and water resistance to 100 metres. Available in steel, two-tone, and yellow gold, each version ships with a second strap and uses both the SmartLink and QuickSwitch systems for quick adjustment and interchangeability.

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The worlds of ancient Greece and Rome have sparked inspiration for designers and creatives across an eclectic array of mediums. For Cartier, the rich mix of heritage and classical antiquity has proved a tempting draw since the mid-19th century, when historical motifs began to be translated into intricate jewellery pieces.

It is a history the maison is marking in Rome, with an exhibition that puts high jewellery creation in dialogue with ancient sculptures at Palazzo Nuovo. ‘Cartier & Myths at the Capitoline Museums’ presents jewellery from Cartier – the majority from the Cartier Collection (spanning the 19th and 20th centuries) – with marble sculptures from Cardinal Alessandro Albani’s collection, which formed the basis of the museum’s original contents. Situated alongside a selection of ancient artefacts from the Capitoline Superintendency and international institutions and private collections, they recall a fruitful and enduring two-way conversation.

Jewellery historian Bianca Cappello, who curated the exhibition alongside archeologist Stéphane Verger and Capitoline Superintendent Claudio Parisi Presicce, traces the evolution of an inspiration through the jewellery. A journey from the 19th century ‘pastiches’ through to a decorative neoclassical style and avant-garde works inspired by Jean Cocteau reveals an organic development of style. Part of the exhibition considers the process of making itself, examining the creation process in Roman and modern times, while another looks at the myths that underpin high jewellery pieces.

Cartier & Myths is at the Capitoline Museums until 15 March 2026

museicapitolini.org

For A/W 2025, high jewellery encompasses bold and colourful forms. From Fernando Jorge's fluid silhouettes to Buccellati's pop of colour and Hermès' intricately rendered cuff, it's all about the details.

For Louis Vuitton, silhouettes are oversized, while Cartier's delicately sized earrings champion the pared-back. Van Cleef & Arpels and Tiffany & Co demonstrate their mastery of embellishment, while Piaget's delicate watch swinging from a necklace of precious stones rewrites jewellery rules entirely. Taken together, these pieces make for high jewellery that is exciting, bold and very modern.

This article appears in the November 2025 Art Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands from, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News + from 9 October. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

If you are missing the celebrated Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain home at Boulevard Raspail, then head to the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025, and the foundation's collateral event at Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the majestic Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. There, a sneak preview exhibition of what's to come at the next Jean Nouvel structure for Fondation Cartier, which is set to open later in the year, might quench your thirst until the public opening of the new structure on 25 October 2025.

What's to come at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris

When it was announced that the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris is moving homes from its well-known, existing 1994-designed space on Boulevard Raspail by Jean Nouvel to a new building at the 19th-century Place du Palais-Royal, it took audiences by surprise. Not only because of the change itself, but also as the new home, also designed by Nouvel (in an existing historic building), promises an immersive, kinetic and fully 21st-century experience.

'Moving into such an impressive site, in terms of location and history, entails a form of invention. And what is invented is not automatically seen in the steel or stone. The space is marked by a different way of doing: a way of conceiving how artists can have maximum power of expression,' Jean Nouvel told us at the time.

'A site such as this one calls for boldness, courage that artists might not necessarily demonstrate in other institutional spaces. The Fondation Cartier will likely be the institution offering the greatest differentiation of its spaces, the most diverse exhibition forms and viewpoints. Here, it is possible to do what cannot be done elsewhere, by shifting the system of the act of showing.'

The new building will be inaugurated this coming autumn, and the newly opened show in Venice offers glimpses of what's to come, in the shape of large scale, immersive renders, photos and film; drawings providing detail into the construction and feel of different areas within the building, including its movable platforms and adaptable nature; and a generous model, arranged in a way that allows the visitor to walk in it and take in the building's interior and kinetic potential.

The show, no doubt, will whet appetites to explore the new space once available; and in the meantime, inspire conversations around the future of art exhibitions, cultural architecture and cross-disciplinary creation. A public programme including participants such as Jean Nouvel, Cecilia Puga, Andrés Jaque, Lina Ghotmeh, Manuel Segade and Antoine Picon, will accompany the exhibition.

The exhibition 'The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain by Jean Nouvel' will be on show until 14 September 2025 on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

cini.it

fondationcartier.com

Cartier is celebrating its rich, culturally illustrious history with a major new retrospective at the V&A in London. Set to open to the public this weekend (12 April 2025), the exhibition is curated by Helen Molesworth and Rachel Garrahan, and will encompass more than 350 objects, from jewels to gemstones, watches to clocks and unseen drawings, as well as pieces lent by King Charles and other private collectors.

‘It’s been a long-time dream on our side to see a Cartier exhibition organised by the V&A,’ says Pierre Rainero, Cartier image, style and heritage director. ‘The discussions with the museum started, I think, ten or 12 years ago, creating an interest among the team at the V&A to dedicate an entire exhibition to Cartier. What is important for us is not only to see that the Cartier creations are a subject of interest, but also to see how a new team of curators and a new scientific approach adopt a new angle, showing the public a new vision on the work of Cartier. This exhibition includes entire new chapters not treated in previous exhibitions.’

British architect and artist Asif Khan (behind London's new Canada Water bridge) heads the exhibition design, creating a Cartier scenography that makes an immersive backdrop for the storytelling at its heart. The exhibition is divided into three distinctive sections: Cartier’s creativity and inspiration, the Cartier workshops and the shaping of a now-iconic image.

‘It was quite complex for the team of curators on the V&A side to create the narrative, because they had many aspects they wanted to focus on – the history of the creation, the history itself, the dimension of Cartier as a company, the analysis of Cartier all through those different periods of time,’ Rainero says. ‘Also, because the exhibition takes place in London, [there is] the idea to give a focus on the specific British history of Cartier, so, the construction of a narrative was very interesting and I think they did achieve a very consistent approach. The journey of the visitors will be from one discovery to another discovery, and, at the end, it will leave a marvellous impression about not only the exhibition but Cartier itself.’

Spectacular highlights on show include the Scroll Tiara, commissioned in 1902 and worn by Elizabeth II at her coronation (and also by Rihanna on the cover of W Magazine in 2016), Grace Kelly’s engagement ring from 1956, and a brooch commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, featuring the rare 23.6 carat pink Williamson diamond.

The jewellery and watches pinpoint Cartier’s story, which goes from a decorative arts history to a look into the technical innovations of the craftsmanship, and a spotlighting of the actors, musicians and royalty who have loved the maison over the years.

‘We are always happy to see the public discovering the works, because, in fact, that’s what Cartier is about,’ says Rainero. ‘We are proposing real objects and they are enjoyable, desirable and subjects of curiosity and, I hope, also admiration. I think an exhibition like this is a way, especially given the approach of the V&A team, of showing the human adventure on the side of Cartier as a company; how Cartier was organised, who were the personalities at the origin of every decision taken and why and how.

‘Also there is the interaction with clients, which is a dedicated section of the exhibition, and how clients also “made” Cartier in many, many different ways. The fame of Cartier, the reputation of Cartier is linked to the importance of our clients and the way they adopted and shared their Cartier creations with the rest of the public. I think this is an important dimension, which is visible and people could perceive the human dimension of Cartier in many ways.’

Cartier is at the V&A, London, from 12 April – 16 November 2025, vam.ac.uk

The most enjoyable development at the recent Watches and Wonders 2025 in Geneva, to my eyes at least, has been the mini-boom in ‘jump hour’ watches (where the hours and, sometimes, minutes, are shown as numbers that ‘jump’ into place). Presaged, as it turns out, by Louis Vuitton’s Tambour Convergence shown in January 2025, there are watches from Bremont, Cartier, Gerald Charles, Hautlence, Sven Andersen and others that feature what is a curious watch sub-species.

The form first turned up in the wave of wristwatches that appeared in the 1920s as montres à guichets (window watches) – offering both protection for the dial (before crystal replaced glass) and the perfect canvas for that art deco concern with shape and surface – but never quite took off, partly for reasons of reliability (the discs that carry the numbers being far heavier than hands) and partly, I suspect, because it offered less scope for makers to distinguish their watches from others.

Nevertheless, it’s the jump hour is a form that pops up at regular intervals – Alessandro Michele’s first watch collection for Gucci included the nicely period Grip watch (in 2019), a cushion-shaped window watch that the brand claimed to be a product of surf culture.

Leading the way at Geneva’s Watches and Wonders show is Cartier’s new Tank à Guichet, a design that also cleaves closely to the 1920s template, though beautifully finessed in terms of surface texture and colour (and, in one of the four executions, the off-setting of the time windows). Bolder and likely more polarising, Bremont’s round case Terra Nova Jumping Hour was as unexpected at Gucci’s design, but has a kind of logic to it and should look quite striking once the bronze alloy case develops a patina.

Gerald Charles’ version follows the more usual pattern of keeping the minutes indicated by hand on a conventional, fully designed dial. It’s an approach that lends itself to more fully realised designs, whether it’s Gerald Charles’ balance of lapis lazuli and guillochage type treatment on the outer band or Svend Andersen’s ultra-restrained mother-of-pearl.

Jump hours have long featured in more complex watches, whether designers are looking to highlight the hour, as in Hautlence’s new HLXX, or just be a little more creative, as with Harry Winston’s 2002 Opus 3.

With a focus now, in the new jump hour watches, on a clean minimalism that invites the complication to take centre stage, a century-old design is given a welcome contemporary spin.

See more new watches shown at Watches and Wonders 2025

If measured by the length of the queue of journalists, the Cartier booth stood out when the doors of the Palexpo centre in Geneva opened for Watches and Wonders 2025. Booking a meeting with the brand, now also possible for private clients, is trickier than threading a proverbial needle, but it's worth it. Cartier has experienced an inexorable rise in popularity, and this week, it revamps four of its ranges in a move that only underscores the brand’s upward trajectory.

New Cartier watches

Cartier Privé Tank A Guichet

We are surely not the only ones to have been wishing for a rebirth of Cartier’s 1928 icon, and here it is. Within the top-tier Privé portfolio, The Tank A Guichets is reissued in three models, encapsulating the minimalist art deco chic of the original design, available in yellow gold, rose gold, or platinum.

And surprisingly, a fourth model sees Cartier offer a complete redesign, charmingly asymmetric in platinum. Its skewed numerals are rendered in a fresh tone of red seen through elegant windows in the brushed precious metal front of the watch. This is a bold move for the brand, with the red text echoing the use of a red cabochon for the platinum Tank Louis Cartier models.

Tank Louis Cartier

The Tank continues to grow in stature despite its svelte demeanour, and the precious metal Tank Louis Cartier embodies the brand’s evolution. At Watches and Wonders 2025, Cartier presents two new versions of the slim dress watch, available in rose or yellow gold.

What’s new is the contemporary choice of semi-matte finishes for the timeless alligator straps, with both watches measuring 38.1 x 27.8mm and featuring a slim profile of under 9mm. Both come with a light-catching silver-white sunray-pattern flinqué dial, blue sword hands and a prominent cabochon-set crown.

Panthère de Cartier

Remaining a staple of many curated wardrobes, the various guises of the Panthère de Cartier make it a versatile timepiece. This year, Cartier ups the sparkle factor with four semi-pavé versions in yellow and rose gold, all of which are in danger of being eclipsed by an artisanal, multi-coloured version. With a 36.5mm rose gold case, the new reference is crafted by the Maison des Métiers d'Art, featuring a dynamic pattern that frames a pavé and enamel dial. The bracelet is adorned with 314 brilliant-cut diamonds and 86 spessartites, unfolding its links with diagonal patterns of sunny yellows and reds.

Panthère de Cartier Bangle

In the two versions of the Panthère de Cartier Bangle, a polished, physical dynamic brings the panther to life, as it appears to run with feline grace, chasing around the wrist to face the small face of a quartz watch. It is a sweepingly modern manifestation of Cartier’s jewellery tradition.

The feline bangle is available in two versions: polished yellow gold or a gem-packed white gold version. The yellow gold version has green tsavorites for the panther’s eyes, while pentagonal black lacquer spots match a gloss black dial surrounded by 23 brilliant-cut diamonds. The white gold panther is immaculately clad with diamonds, spilling over onto the smooth watch end, which it appears to be chasing, totalling 1,103 with a combined weight of 11.9 carats.

Tressage

The sculptural quality of the Tressage series initially appears as if two gem-set bangles are enveloping a minimalist Cartier Tank, yet it emerges as a singular, cohesive design. As we have seen in the Panthère bangle, there is an understanding between Cartier’s watch designers and artisanal jewellers. This expertise in precious metal comes across as particularly strong in the three gem-set versions, as well as in the purity of the yellow gold version, featuring soft tresses that frame a black lacquer dial and a smooth black calfskin strap.

cartier.com

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Drawing on an eclectic roster of references, high jewellery this year unites historical techniques with rainbows of precious stones. Whether cutting sharp geometrical silhouettes or undulating forms, a bold high jewellery accoutrement calls for statement clothes. Clashing patterns, oversized collars and billowing tops - here are the best partners for a very special collection.

A version of this article appears in the April 2025 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on international newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

New term, new shoes, new teacher... the autumn equinox is upon us and the excitement of a new term abounds. This Sunday (22 September 2024), days and nights are officially equal length. And if you want to buckle down on the numbers, then feel free do the math, because we're in a back-to-school mood of an altogether different nature – a gold-tipped, diamond-set one to be precise. And while you work out the celestial details, we've got your new-term jewellery kit sorted.

The Precious Alphabet

London jewellery designer Alexandra Jefford created her precious alphabet in 2010. 'I liked the idea of a font that is a little reminiscent of the Bauhaus era but with a modern take,’ she says of her monogram charms. ‘I was inspired by the idea that letters are the building blocks of language and communication, in the same way that the elements are the building blocks of nature. A letter not only signifies a name, but here, the font makes a statement of its own.’ The alphabet is designed in both white gold and diamond, and yellow gold versions.

Enquire at alexandrajefford.com

The Calendar

London-based designer Solange Azagury-Partridge launched her first Hotlips ring design in 1995, as ‘the embodiment of the perfect lipstick on a beautiful, kissable mouth’. Its success is such that it now comes in a cheeky range of expressions, such as the Hotlips tote. Handy for carrying iPads, books, pens and the like. The designer’s joyful Days of the Week emerald ring, meanwhile, with its revolving barrel depicting each day, will keep your calendar bang up to date with a diamond-set twist.

Hotlips tote, £25. Days of the Week emerald ring, enquire at Solange.co.uk

The Language Lesson

Dior creative director of fine jewellery Victoire de Castellane’s Dioramour fine jewellery collection, with its timeless, dear-diary confessions of ‘love and belonging’ is a classic choice for marking new beginnings. London charm specialist Loquet, meanwhile, wholly succeeds in its remit of creating tiny gold stories for 'celebrating big moments to be proud of’. Each is a precious-language reminder to agree with your teacher and work extremely hard this term.

Dioramour ring, £1,200, from Dior.com

Miss Script Charm, £220, from Loquetlondon.com

The Desk Diary

Everyone who prefers to use a traditional desk diary (count me in) has a particular remit when it comes to its double-page layout and white space. This Must de Cartier burgundy calfskin number, with its pure art deco font and three-column 'things to do today' format is an elegantly simple system. And for those who like to start the day with a positive mantra that, no matter what, life really is beautiful, the diary's facing pages, replete with illustrations of archive Cartier jewellery and watch designs, is sure to inspire.

Must de Cartier notebook, £720, get notified at Cartier.com

The Locker Room Essentials

The personal padlock is a classic jewellery design and weird, wonderful or simple silver and gold versions abound at auction sales. This exquisite lock brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, is a particularly fine example of those offered at Bonhams auction house. If you miss out, alternative sites, including 1stdibs.com and The-saleroom.com are great resources for archive-jewellery lockets.

Of course, a padlock needs a key, and Wouters & Hendrix’s chain of silver openers shines with the surrealist humour that underpins the Antwerp jewellery house's skewed take on design. Wear it as a reminder to pick up your keys or, perhaps, view the necklace as an abstract prompt for theories on how not to lose them.

Check upcoming lots at bonhams.com

Necklace with keys in silver, €330, from Wouters-hendrix.com

The Desktop Necessaries

An apple for your desk is always a good idea for the first day of term because it presents an array of possibilities, whether you need a sweetner for the teacher or a mid-morning snack. This sterling silver-topped Murano glass apple jar, one of a whole bowl of deliciously whimsical fruits by Buccellati, would even double up as a pen pot.

The discerning student will, of course, choose a Montblanc pen as a way of indicating they start as they mean to go on: at the top. 2024 marks 100 years since the Hamburg maker of 'fine writing instruments' launched its 24ct-gold nibbed Meisterstück pen. This year, it has been studiously engaged in a history lesson of its own, diving into its own archive. This art deco design never saw the light of day when it was conceived in the 1930s. Today, the Origin collection Solitaire LeGrand fountain pen, in coral lacquer and intricate 24ct-gold-coated metal carapace is produced, in its original form for the very first time.

Murano glass yellow apple jam jar, £2,950, from Buccellati.com

Meisterstück The Origin Collection Solitaire LeGrand Fountain Pen F, £2,300, from Montblanc.com

The Writing Lesson

The French costume jeweller and interiors specialist, Goossens has just launched Infinitely Goossens, a collection of 24ct gold-dipped brass lucky charms designed as a ‘unique language of love, nature, luck and mystery’. We’re sweet on the Envelope pendant, with its bright-red resin seal.

In our book, love letters are as valid a writing exercise as a thesis on gravitational bends, and London-based jewellery designer Nadine Ghosn's Pencil bracelet poses a brain teaser all its own. That the maverick jewellery designer delights in elevating seemingly innocuous items (from hamburgers to bike chains) into jewelled forms, inviting us to reconsider them anew, only underlines the importance of innocuous romantic notions.

Envelope pendant necklace, £245, from Goossens-paris.com

Pencil bracelet in rose gold, £23,860, by Nadine Ghosn, from Doverstreetmarket.com

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain is planning a landmark new building, it has been unveiled today in Paris. Renowned architect Jean Nouvel will design the new home for the cultural institution, which will be located at Place du Palais-Royal. Set to open by the end of 2025, to eventually replace the Fondation's existing space on Boulevard Raspail, the project involves the transformation and restoration of a historical Haussmannian building from 1855.

Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain: a new Jean Nouvel building

'Moving into such an impressive site, in terms of location and history, entails a form of invention. And what is invented is not automatically seen in the steel or stone. The space is marked by a different way of doing: a way of conceiving how artists can have maximum power of expression,' says Jean Nouvel on his practice's new project.

The architect is famously behind the popular, existing home of the Fondation Cartier - an iconic, ethereal structure in glass and steel that feels delicate and transparent. It was inaugurated in 1994.

The architect continues: 'A site such as this one calls for boldness, courage that artists might not necessarily demonstrate in other institutional spaces. The Fondation Cartier will likely be the institution offering the greatest differentiation of its spaces, the most diverse exhibition forms and viewpoints. Here, it is possible to do what cannot be done elsewhere, by shifting the system of the act of showing.'

The expansive 8500 sq m structure used to be a Grand Hotel, but will now be redesigned with a commitment to foster and celebrate the arts. Extensive gallery spaces will include flexible halls and mobile platforms that will allow artists and curators to adapt the interior for different shows, as needed.

'From its creation, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain has based its activity around three major principles that still hold true today. The first is the central position granted to artists and artistic production, including artists already known to the general public as well as emerging figures. The second is the focus on transversality: the Fondation Cartier is a space dedicated to all forms of creation, from painting to photography, architecture to film, design to fashion, and more.'

'The third is the strict separation between the Fondation Cartier’s activities and the commercial development of Maison Cartier. These were the major principles underlying the launch of the Fondation Cartier on October 20, 1984, in Jouy-en-Josas. We have perpetuated this same philosophy on Boulevard Raspail and will continue to do so on the Place du Palais-Royal, across from the Louvre,' says Alain Dominique Perrin, founding president of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain.

fondationcartier.com

jeannouvel.com

At the heart of high jewellery collections lies a dedication to showcasing the rarest and most precious gemstones, putting them in the best possible light. For this year’s new releases, high jewellery houses zoned in on colour, eschewing traditional pastels for a generous rainbow of hues, from the muted and abstract to the brilliant and bold.

Shimmering prisms are the central focus for Hermès’ creative director of jewellery, Pierre Hardy, who continues his exploration into the brilliant refraction of coloured stones with his ‘Les Formes de la Couleur’ collection. Hardy, who studied colour theory for his art degree, is a master of illusion, conjuring up geometric plays with architectural cuts of an array of precious stones, including rubies, beryls and sapphires. The collection marks the first time in the house’s history that such a large selection of stones has been used, with semi-precious and precious stones sitting together in a wide-ranging celebration of nuanced gradients. Teasing, modern references run throughout, such as with the ‘Color Icon’ bracelet, the hypnotic patterns of the stones coyly nodding to a pixellated, digital image.

A play on storytelling also characterises Chaumet’s offering. The ‘Chaumet en Scène’ collection is divided into three inspirations, music, dance and magic, with each drawing on the house’s far-reaching links with the arts. Chaumet’s Paris HQ is at 12 Place Vendôme, which was once home to Chopin, and it was here that he was said to have begun his last work, the Mazurka Op. 68, No.4. With this in mind, the sweeping lines of the house’s graphic ‘Mélodie’ necklace reference the grids and curves of a musical composition. For Francesca Amfitheatrof, Louis Vuitton’s artistic director for watches and jewellery, historical references are united with a freedom of spirit. Her latest jewellery collection for Louis Vuitton is epitomised by elaborate ornamentation and rich design detailing, encapsulated in pieces such as the ‘Splendeur’ necklace. Technically accomplished, it can be worn three ways.

Creative freedom also characterises Tiffany & Co’s ‘Blue Book 2024’ collection, which pays tribute to the artistic legacy of French jewellery designer Jean Schlumberger, intertwining fantasy and celestial themes in a romantic mish-mash. Peacocks, shooting stars and whimsical symbols are drawn in a juxtaposition of diamond cuts and thickly drawn gold – in the ‘Flames’ ring, the medley of cuts become a diamond firework, on the point of exploding in the sky.

Traditionally-cut diamonds are the focus of a heritage bracelet by Van Cleef & Arpels. Dating from 1923, the piece is faithful to the style of the time, when a trend for ‘white jewellery’ – a mix of diamonds and platinum – reigned. The house continues to champion these vintage designs in its ‘Heritage’ collection, which unites pieces created between the 1920s-1990s. A classic diamond bracelet is typical of its time, embracing the art deco sensibilities of clean lines and geometric forms, simplifying a floral design into an elegant arabesque.

Alongside diamonds, milky-hued pearls are perennial favourites in the world of high jewellery. They are a natural choice for Tasaki, which has cemented its status as a pearl specialist since its beginnings in the 1950s, when it became experts in both farming and selling cultured pearls. It has continued to build on this reputation in various ways, including collaborations with Ritz Paris, which began in 2016 to commemorate Tasaki’s first boutique in France and the reopening of the hotel.

The design of its ‘Lumineux’ collection nods to the Ritz’s heritage with the curved silhouettes reminiscent of the hotel’s sweeping staircase, once the centrepiece for the grand balls organised by César Ritz for the crème de la crème of Parisian society.

A European flamboyance is also prevalent in the ‘Diorama & Diorigami’ collection for Dior, designed by Victoire de Castellane, who drew on toile de Jouy, the patterned cloth featuring pastoral scenes that was popular in the 18th century and a distinctive feature in Christian Dior’s aesthetic (he clad his original boutique, Colifichets, in the fabric). In de Castellane’s collection, the flora and fauna are richly interpreted in colourful precious stones. Meanwhile, at Gucci, the mazes and symmetry of a traditional Italian garden form the inspiration for its ‘Labirinti Gucci’ collection. Striking a balance between meticulous planning and wild beauty, a form of ordered chaos is reflected in the smattering of blue-hued stones and the rigorous diamond grid.

Elsewhere, natural themes take a playful turn in Cartier’s ‘Nature Sauvage’ collection. Animals appear where you least expect them: crocodiles coil around the finger, the sinuous body of a snake splits in two to caress the curve of the neck, a snow leopard picks its way across a diamond and rock crystal icecap, while a turtle rests contentedly on a lapel. We feel the call of the wild.

This article appears in the October 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands from 5 September on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

There are jewelled watches and there are high jewellery watches. As proud symbols of technical and creative mastery, they are especially singled out by leading jewellery houses as part of their annual high jewellery collections. Traditionally, a high jewellery watch is a ‘secret’, a rare-gem-set bracelet with a tiny hidden watch dial designed to give the wearer possession of a delightful surprise. Like a hidden door, the timekeeping element of a high jewellery watch is engineered to blend seamlessly into the jewel design. This not only hides a tiny watch dial but the volume of the quartz watch movement required to power it.

This year, Cartier, Chaumet and Chanel offered particularly graphic takes in three playfully modern designs.

Three 2024 high jewellery watches

Chaumet ‘En Scène’ Tango

The jewellery house at 12 Place Vendôme has a strong history in watch design and, in this proud Paris Olympics year, it would have been a welcome surprise to see a resplendent return of Chaumet’s sporty Class 1 design – a jewelled divers’ watch for women created in the 1990s. Hopefully, it will be revived sometime soon. Today, high jewellery watch iterations are the key focus at Chaumet and the sheer simplicity and graphic pleasure of the performance-inspired ‘Tango’, in white gold, juicy rubies and brilliant-cut diamonds, makes it a winner. There’s no hiding it’s a watch rather than a bracelet, but the now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t ‘secret’ cover creates enough sparkle to make you itch to see what’s going on beneath. The diamond-row lugs and sheeny, black satin strap nod to Chaumet’s inherent French chic in watch design. Did I mention, how much I’d love to see a high jewellery return for the Class 1…

chaumet.com

Cartier 'Nature Sauvage'

The most enduring nature motif in high jewellery, the Cartier Panthère slinks into watch design with ease. In fact, Jeanne Toussaint, the woman who introduced the wild cat to Cartier in 1914, introduced it on a women’s wristwatch. This year’s 'Nature Sauvage' high jewellery Panthère watch is engaged in a gem-encrusted game of hide and seek. A tiny, bevelled watch dial is seamlessly set into the clasp of a bold, white-gold Panthère bangle, resplendent with oval Ceylan sapphires, diamonds, emeralds and black lacquer. This, of course, allows the wearer to discreetly check the time with a quick twist around the wrist.

cartier.com

Chanel ‘Quilted 2.55’

The horological star in this year’s Chanel’s ‘Haute Joaillerie Sport’ collection, designed by Patrice Leguéreau, director of the Chanel Jewellery Creation Studio, is a gently humorous addition to the jewelled-watch genre. It was Richard Mille who, just over 20 years ago, steered sport-watch design towards its luxurious juxtaposition of specialist super-tech fabrics and precious materials. Introducing that contemporary mix to the hallowed world of French high jewellery design, however, is a bold move on Chanel’s part. The ‘Quilted 2.55’ bracelet watch also bends the course of tradition in its homage to the house quilted motif, now reinvented as a performance-fabric mesh design. The perfume-bottle-stopper diamond dial with its brilliant red-lacquer hands can be worn to the front, as is the norm, or slid around the wrist and ‘hidden’ at the back. The clasp, in the classic 2.55 design, is no longer a hidden technical must but a gorgeous decorative detail.

chanel.com

Picture 50 different skies painted in staggered shades of blues and greys, reds and pinks onto the front pages of local newspapers from across Japan – each one casting shadows on the curved walls of a rotunda where they are displayed.

This is the view that greets visitors upon arrival at Tokyo National Museum’s historic Hyokeikan building, which is currently home to a major new exhibition celebrating 50 years of iconic jewellery maison Cartier’s presence in Japan.

The paintings were created by Sho Shibuya, the New York-based Japanese artist, who undertook a journey across his homeland capturing the shifting tones and atmospheres of the sky – one of a number of works commissioned by Fondation Cartier to mark the anniversary.

50 years of Cartier in Japan

It marks the threshold of an elegantly curated journey that unravels 50 years of intertwined narratives between Japan and the jewellery maison – from the Japonisme imprint on its earliest jewellery creations and the 1974 opening of its first Tokyo boutique through to its creative exchanges with a raft of contemporary Japanese artists.

The exhibition, entitled ‘Musubi - Half-Century of Cartier in Japan and Beyond: an Everlasting Dialogue of Beauty and Art’, is layered in history, innovation and creativity, with scenography by Studio Adrian Gardère smoothly balancing exhibits with the Hyokeikan’s heritage architecture.

Key to the concept is the word musubi – the symbolic ties or knots often found in Japan’s traditional culture, from shrines to kimono, interpreted in this context as ‘the power of the divine spirit produced by being bound together’.

The end result is a symphonic journey through the layers of Japan and Cartier’s connections, through decades of crafted creations by the jewellery house as well as the creative legacy of its contemporary art foundation’s journey with a roll call of Japanese artists.

Reflecting on the past 50 years, Pierre Rainero, the image, style and heritage director at Cartier, tells Wallpaper*: ‘Cartier’s interest in Japan started very early. But having a presence in Japan since 1974 changed many things. It’s a physical link that is not just a commercial bond. Japan is the epitome of modern life and our presence here marked a big change in how we perceive the world.’

Highlighting the timeless values and notions of beauty which are shared between these two worlds, he adds: ‘One affinity is this sense of beauty linked to the idea of exquisite craftsmanship. And then there is the beauty of the accident. This can be seen in Japanese ceramics in which you don’t master everything – you accept the transformation of the colours and the pigments in the firing and you appreciate it. This idea is also very present in Cartier. When you are a jeweller, you accept the accidents of stones. It is the idea of accepting things as they are, an acceptance of the beauty of nature.’

Upon entering the exhibition, curated by Hélène Kelmachter, the two parallel wings of Hyokeikan tell two different stories. Turning right from the central skies-fill rotunda, visitors explore part one: ‘Cartier and Japan, a Tribute to Art and Beauty’.

Here, the sensitively lit century-old space unfolds to reveal a treasured cornucopia of around 120 pieces from the Cartier Collection plus private loans and 50 items from the Cartier Archives across two levels, connected by a curved stone staircase.

The starting point is the blossoming of Japonisme in the late 19th century, a movement that deeply influenced the creative trajectory of Louis Cartier, the son of the maison’s founder and an avid collector of Japanese art and books, despite never visiting the country in person.

Among masterpieces on display is a brooch made in 1907, with its flowing interconnected lines of platinum, gold, diamonds and sparkling rubies, forming a classic Japanese knot motif.

Further reflections of Japan can be found in a series of Mystery Clocks – including the 1923 Portique, its rock crystal, diamond and onyx form meticulously designed to resemble the torii gate of a traditional shrine.

Cartier’s early reimaginings of Japan are also echoed in the geometric motifs of a gold 1912 cigarette case; the sparkling flow of a sakura cherry blossom-motif bracelet from 1925; and the organic bamboo-inspired surface of a gold, sapphire and emerald lipstick holder in 1950.

The exhibition further highlights how the creative synergy between Japan and Cartier hit new heights in 1974, with the opening of its first store in Tokyo’s trend-triggering Harajuku, complete with a façade replicating the Rue de la Paix boutique in Paris and a leafy mystery garden.

A further spotlight is cast on the recreation of exhibitions then held by Cartier in Japan through the years, including the immersive 2004 curatorial vision of Ettore Sottsass in Kyoto’s Daigo-ji Temple and Tokujin Yoshioka’s experiential holographic 2009 exhibition also in the Hyokeikan.

Meanwhile, the left wing of the Hyokeikan is dedicated to ‘Fondation Cartier Pour L’art Contemporain And Japanese Artists: A Never-Ending Conversation’, reflecting the Japan journey of the influential foundation. Since its establishment in 1984, it has consistently cast a string of now widely acclaimed Japanese artists into the global spotlight, through collaborations rooted in creative freedom.

This chapter of the exhibition unfolds in bursts of colour and immersive installations, made up of 150 artworks by 28 artists – and the starting point is a series of portraits of featured artists painted in the bold signature strokes of legendary Tadanori Yokoo.

An exploratory blurring of boundaries also unfolds in the installations of early landmark Cartier exhibitions by artists such as Issey Miyake and Takeshi Kitano; while a kaleidoscopic photographic journey is created through the vision of cult names including Hiroshi Sugimoto, Nobuyoshi Araki and Rinko Kawauchi.

Other highlights include the immersive Zen Buddhism-inspired emptiness of Tatsuo Miyajima’s 1996 digital number artwork Time Go Round (displayed for the first time in Japan) and the raw monochrome edge of Daido Moriyama’s 2016 slideshow Dog and Mesh Tights.

For Hervé Chandès, international director of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, the starting point of the journey was his unexpected discovery of a string of Japanese artists – Moriyama, Yokoo, Araki – in a bookstore in Roppongi in the 1990s.

Referring to the thread that flows through the diverse collection of Japanese artists in the new exhibition, he tells Wallpaper*: ‘There is a uniqueness of language that connects them all. Yokoo is unique. Daido is unique. Nobuyoshi is unique. It’s not a question of taste, they have all invented a language with a very specific view. These are real artists who are deeply committed.’

He adds: ‘Artworks, society, issues may have changed over the past 40 years, but the work of the foundation is still based on the same concept – the idea of giving artists freedom. There is no limit. I hope this exhibition sparks the curiosity of people who visit.’

A scene-stealer in the exhibition is one of the foundation’s newest discoveries: Sho Shibuya and his Fifty Sky Views of Japan, a creative journey inspired by the idea of following in the footsteps of early travelling artists such as ukiyo-e woodblock print master Hiroshige Utagawa.

‘I love the idea of travelling and creating art at the same time,’ Shibuya tells Wallpaper*. ‘So I travelled and I painted, just like other artists have done in the past, through all of Japan’s prefectures. Hokusai also did something similar using Mount Fuji as an anchor, while Matsuo Basho wrote poems all over Japan.’

Describing how the daily ritual of painting skies on newspaper front pages began during the pandemic in New York, he adds: ‘It was a practice that kept me sane. It was like meditation.

‘For me, nothing is forever. This paper in 100 years will definitely be different. It will change and age. Inside stays the same – but outside we all age. To me, that’s the beauty of life.’

‘Musubi - Half-Century of Cartier in Japan and Beyond: an Everlasting Dialogue on Beauty and Art’ runs at Hyokeikan at Tokyo National Museum until July 28

tnm.jp

If the appeal of the yellow gold watch to some has long been limited by its association with bling, might matters now be on the turn? From the Stealth Wealth feeling of heavy white gold, to the reinvigorating glow of yellow or 18K rose on a cold autumn day, precious metal is back and on trend this year.

Browse gold watches

At Watches and Wonders 2024, alongside classic designs from a multitude of major and independent watch brands, there is a leaning towards the thoroughly modern. Occasionally wildly outré wristwatches that don’t look like mid-1960s talismans are back with a vengeance – and we’re here for it.

Futuristic watches at Watches and Wonders 2024

Ulysse Nardin Freak S Nomad

As a concept, the Freak S is over 20 years old. That doesn’t stop it from being a revolution compared to every other watch out there. The spacecraft vibes are strong in the new Nomad, its warm tones inspired by desert travels, and their carousel movement-as-minute hand is still baffling. But this time there is a deeper meaning, with a guilloché hour disc as the ‘dial’, forging a bond to the distant past. The beige CVD-gold-finished disc takes one craftsman 240 continuous movements and over three hours to cut. And the interwoven diamond shapes, a pattern that goes back to 19th-century pocket watches, serves as a thought-provoking background to the UN-251 movement, as always resembling an alien ship born in another galaxy.

Ulysse Nardin.com

De Bethune DB Kind of Grande Complication

Rocking the brand’s familiar yet still inspiringly mad case design, any De Bethune has a 10ft visibility if you’re in the know. And with its crown recessed at six o’clock and centre-pivoting lugs, it might just be what watches should look like in the future. Yet it displays a rich traditional flourish when it comes to every hand-finished titanium part, and you will surely become lost in some time-lapse loop-gazing into the jaw-dropping intense blue dial. With its appliqué gold stars and spherical moon phase, it competes for attention with the ultra-complex DB2529 calibre, which constitutes no fewer than 751 pieces including a 30in titanium tourbillon.

Debethune.ch

Hautlence Retrovision ’47

This one had me torn – is it futurism, or retro-futurism, or a kind of colourful steam-punk creation? Who cares when it looks as fresh as this, with a charming back story to boot. At first glance, it looks like a watch from Thunderbirds, complete with a communicator speaker grille. Hautlence is a progenitor of mechanical futurism and will never release a round watch with three hands, trust us. The Retrovision ’47 was designed with the premise of Hautlence being established in the 1940s. A charmingly bonkers concept explaining the TV-like design, and it looks refreshingly like nothing else on the planet. The hand-painted cuboid case has an apple-green tinge and a Bakelite vibe, with a small off-set dial in brass and 2N red gold. It comes on a scintillatingly red strap, and if we told you there was a flying tourbillon under the speaker grille you might not be surprised.

Hautlence.com

Cartier Reflection de Cartier

Cartier just dropped one of the most enigmatic pieces of Watches and Wonders 2024, a square-profiled bangle of sorts. But in fact, it is also a watch, ensconced in the bangle end, reflected in the opposed polished god part. Inspiring, quirky and precious, with a quartz heart. This airy creation, standing out among a number of future-facing watch bracelets at the fair, is available in rose, yellow or white gold, with a few tempting gem-set versions that are rather breathtaking in their multi-coloured splendour.

Cartier.com

Hublot Big Bang MP-11 Water Blue Sapphire 

Hublot never disappoints, taking sapphire craftsmanship to unseen levels with the new MP-11. Casting and machining man-made sapphire is one of the most difficult operations in the watch industry, but the brand doesn’t shy away from material challenges. The deceptively sweet tone of radiant blue suffuses the new MP-11 with light, while clear-framing the complexities within. It is a new and brand-exclusive sapphire tone, while the 14-day calibre is a mechanical piece of art. The manufacture movement has a skeleton aesthetic, with the massive power reserve powered by the engine-like seven spring barrels giving the case its characteristic hump.

Hublot.com

Urwerk SpaceTime Blades

This is not a watch per se, rather an horological sculpture (also explored in our pick of offerings from independent watch brands ). The 1.7m human-height sculpture boasts 20kg of artisanal glow in the form of a vertical digital display. A glass dome – featuring the same thickness from base to rounded top – protects the SpaceTime Blade indications, eight vertically aligned and individually flame-shaped handmade Nixie bulbs. The metal base and top are solid bronze. The base represents an Urwerk crown, and the brass itself has been patinated and polished by hand. What do the eight Nixie bulb modules display? With a capacity of changing up to 500 times per second, they offers anything from mundane hours and minutes to a calendar, the Earth’s rotation in km, and its revolution around the sun. Quite.

Urwerk.com

Launched in 1922 as a tribute to the Allied forces in Europe, the Tank Louis Cartier watch rethought the traditional aesthetic, its rectangular form standing in sharp contrast to the rounded watch dials that were prevalent at the time. 

Composed of squares and rectangles, its geometrical plays gave the art deco movement a chic horological spin. Its clean lines referenced the Renault tanks on the Western Front, with the angled form reflecting a view of the tank from above, the case itself symbolising the cockpit, and the vertical edges the treads. 

Louis Cartier, admiring of this elegant marriage of function and form, carried it through into his watch design. This cultural history made it a natural partner for luxury watch retailer Watches of Switzerland when it was looking to mark 100 years in the industry. Cartier has created a limited edition Tank Louis Cartier watch in tribute to its 70-year relationship with the company. Paying homage to the understated minimalism of the original, this new watch pairs a brushed gold dial with a navy alligator strap.

cartier.com

watches-of-switzerland.co.uk

A version of this article appears in the April 2024 issue of Wallpaper* available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

The first collaboration between Cartier’s nose Mathilde Laurent, the San Francisco Symphony Music Director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, came to fruition this weekend (1-3 March 2024); a performance of Alexander Scriabin’s 1910 symphony, Prometheus, the Poem of Fire.

20 minutes in length, their interpretation of Scriabin’s tone poem was liberating and full of feeling, uniting sound, scent and light to multisensory and monumental effect. It was also cathartic, an antidote to the pandemic years, when we were unable to gather for cocktails, conflabs or concerts (and were afraid of simply breathing in deeply beside our best friends).

Cartier’s Mathilde Laurent on scenting Prometheus, the Poem of Fire

Scriabin, a Russian composer with synaesthesia, envisioned a total, consuming work of art around this seminal Greek myth. Prometheus steals fire from the gods and gives it to mortals, enabling civilisation and the arts to flourish. Scriabin scored Prometheus for light and colour, as well as music, and dreamed of drawing on all the senses, including smell. But the technology didn’t yet exist to perform it.

Of course, now it does. And on Friday (March 1 2024), above the 100-person orchestra and a 100-person chorus, a massive halo of light designed by Luke Kritzeck illuminated the hall in vivid hues aligned with Scriabin’s original ‘colour organ’, an instrument he created to link projected light to harmonic shifts. The music ranged from ethereal and shimmering to thunderous and rises from danger and dissonance into exultation. Releasing a fragrance that was subtle in degree but complex in composition, at three symbolic moments, Laurent's olfaction worked in tandem with the music to help the audience feel it in their bodies and minds.

Laurent crafted two original scent accords (fragrances not designed to be worn) to be released ‘Before’ and ‘After’ Prometheus’ gift. For the moment of giving, she chose an existing Cartier fragrance of her own design. The scents are dispersed using two methods purpose-built for the symphony by olfaction engineers in St. Malo. Small black cassettes installed beneath the seats use a non-aerosol, dry-air diffusion technique to propel air through capsules infused with scents. Without the alcohol-heavy vapour of perfume diffusion, they dissipate more quickly, allowing the audience to smell each without the lingering interference of the fragrance that preceded it.

This technology underscores the affinities between musical composition and scent design. Both create something ephemeral and able to carry a narrative, both are abstract and evolving. ‘We use so much music vocabulary to explain olfactory creation,’ Laurent says. ‘The composition of music begins in the mind, with “notes” in the head of the musician as they are in the head of a perfumer. We talk of “harmony” in perfume and are also trying to create a “symphony”. Scent has a beginning and an end, a lapse of time during which different ingredients play at different moments, as do the instruments.’

Laurent’s ‘Before’ accord evokes a dark human struggle before the advent of fire through a petrichor quality of earth after rain, a stormy suggestion of ice, ozone and vegetation. When Prometheus offers the fire, the cassettes and 12 ‘cannons’ lining the hall broadcast notes of smoke and burnt wood, Laurent’s 2005 La Treizième Heure. This fragrance pays tribute to the origin of perfumery (and jewellery) in fire, which extracts the absolutes, essences and oils that are the building blocks of her art. (The word ‘perfume’ comes from the Latin per fumum, which means ‘through smoke’.) Then, in a triumphant crescendo, the ‘After’ accord depicts man’s elevation in hesperidic notes of hope and joy: bergamot, lemon and verbena, fresh grass, sunlight and warmth.

Prometheus offers too much to explore in one sitting. The audience will want more. But it also requires that we take something we’ve denied ourselves for years: ‘It’s very important, during this performance, that you breathe in deeply,’ says pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. ‘It’s a very natural thing: suddenly, you are enveloped, and you won't even know what with. But it is something that will make you hear differently and see differently.’

cartier.com

sfsymphony.org

A century ago, the first Cartier ‘Trinity’ ring launched, intertwining the three precious metals, platinum, yellow gold and rose gold, in a symbolic reflection of both the three Cartier brothers, Louis, Pierre and Jacques, and the maison’s three boutiques, in Paris, London and New York.

Upon their release, the rings captured a changing jewellery mood, leaning more towards a minimalist and modern silhouette. Composed of three interlocking forms, their inherently playful nature encouraged a tactile twirling, bringing a lightheartedness to fine jewellery.

Since the initial launch, new reinterpretations of the ‘Trinity’ ring have rethought proportions and form, and added fluted and faceted embellishments. Now, to mark 100 years, new versions marry this rich heritage with contemporary designs. 

The latest ‘Trinity’ rings, encompassing the same pure lines as the original, cut both thicker silhouettes and a new softened cushion shape. Despite their more angular form, the rings still slide on easily and come in a variety of finishes, including pavéd with diamonds, while the shape is also seen on bracelets and pendants.

Included in the launch is a reissue of oversized bracelets, designs first released in the 2000s. 

The new ‘Trinity’ pieces keep the maximalist spirit of the original, which captivated famous decorator Elsie de Wolf and actress Kendall Lee, who wore the rings stacked in pairs on the cover of Vogue in 1925.

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Our top 10 watch and jewellery stories from 2023 are chosen by watches & jewellery editor Hannah Silver. From unexpected watch partnerships to a host of artistic references, designers this year have enjoyed breaking new ground. Enjoy our favourite watch and jewellery moments of the year with these standout stories (in no particular order) celebrating a spirit of collaboration.

Top 10 watch and jewellery stories of 2023

01. Saint Laurent partners with Girard-Perregaux for first watchmaking foray

Girard Perregaux’s original Casquette watch, launched in 1976, broke traditional watchmaking codes with its tubular LED display and quartz movement, while its avant-garde shape was a refreshing antidote to the classic dials prevalent at the time. Although not officially called the Casquette, it was quickly dubbed so by a legion of loyal fans eager to see its return. 

Following Girard-Perregaux’s 2022’s re-release of the Casquette watch, the brand this year unveiled its latest iteration, the result of a collaboration with Saint Laurent. Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello has rethought the futuristic watch in black ceramic and PVD-treated grade 5 titanium, making for a result both strong and light. Designed to arch comfortably around the wrist, the watch sees the addition of a chronograph and a time display showing the time in a different location, a new and useful feature.

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02. Six artists interpret Repossi’s ‘Antifer’ jewellery collection with new works

To mark the tenth anniversary of the launch of its ‘Antifer’ collection, Italian jewellery house Repossi created five new designs, as well as three pieces of high jewellery. In the set of rings, stacked rows of precious metals cut asymmetrical silhouettes for the first time, while the classic proportions of the ‘Antifer’ motif are teased into an elongated peak. Hoop earrings and a long pendant necklace with a fully pavéd symbol are elegant new additions, while a chain necklace in pink gold playfully works the motif into its links. Repossi also collaborated with six artists, who interpreted the collection to create artworks for a Paris exhibition.

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03. Pin your hopes on Chanel’s new watch

The humble pin cushion is behind the latest watch from Chanel, with Arnaud Chastaing, the director of Chanel’s watchmaking studio, taking inspiration from objects whose architecture centres around their function. Chanel watches traditionally take their design cues from the French maison’s world – from the winding of a distinctive embellished leather handbag chain around the wrist to evoking the form of a No. 5 perfume bottle stopper or imprinting tweed on a dial. 

With the Mademoiselle Privé Pique-Aiguilles watch, it’s the pin cushion that Gabrielle Chanel often toted on her wrist in her role as seamstress that acts as muse. Cutting a playfully oversized silhouette, the tweed motif version features the pattern of a tweed jacket, trimmed with 92 diamonds, underneath a domed case evoking the shape of a pin cushion. It’s dotted with the tools of an atelier, such as thimbles, scissors and tape measures, all drawn in sculpted gold. 

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04. Completedworks turns its reductionist vision to bags

A preoccupation with the relationship between form and function meant a move into fashion accessories was perhaps inevitable for London-based jewellery and homeware brand Completedworks. For the past decade, its artistic director Anna Jewsbury has infused ceramics and jewellery with a sculptural sensibility, presenting everything from vases that appear to have been casually scrunched in the hand to offbeat, playfully proportioned earrings. Now, she turns her sharp eye to bags.

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05. ‘Bauhaus goes American!’: Louis Erard and Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry’s playful new watch

A bold geometry defines the watches created in a collaboration between US-based Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, Swiss watchmaker Louis Erard and French watch designer Alain Silberstein. Alain Silberstein’s love of primary colours meets playful details – such as the smileys rather than the traditional date in the date window – in new watch sets, which include 72 Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein for Stephen Silver La Semaine watches. Special box sets also contain both Louis Erard x Alain Silberstein for Stephen Silver Le Régulateur and La Semaine watches.

‘This piece is a great representation of the sensibilities of Alain Silberstein, the renowned French watch designer,’ says Jared Silver, president of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry of La Semaine. ‘It is bold, playful, and whimsical. We wanted to collaborate with him because he shares much in common with the attitudes of our collectors here in Silicon Valley, who enjoy their watches with a sense of fun. As the watch's USA edition, we wanted to bring in the quintessential Americana colours.’

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06. Björn Weckström’s epic sculptures and chunky jewellery shine a light on the human condition

For Finnish sculptor and jewellery designer Björn Weckström, the frailties of the human condition are a lifelong preoccupation. His sculptures, which expose the challenges facing mankind, are epic in scale and cast in an eclectic mix of materials: marble, bronze, glass and resin. The 88-year-old artist draws on both his Nordic heritage and the decades he spent in Italy, as a lecturer at the University of Pisa from 1979, for works that capture his fascination with Greek mythology, imbuing the familiar forms of the gods with an empathetic humanity.

While Weckström has always been intrigued by the possibilities offered by materials, he originally manipulated these on a smaller scale, beginning his career as a jewellery designer. ‘I always wanted to be a sculptor, but, the fact is, my family was very much against it,’ he tells us from his home in Espoo, Finland. ‘My grandfather was a jeweller, but I wasn’t so interested. We made a compromise and I went to the [Finnish] Goldsmith School and started with the small things – it was a good time. I could make things look different. I wanted to take it to a higher level where it’s so free, you don’t have any function. It’s like a piece of art.’

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07. Reimagined Cartier Baignoire watch is a fitting homage to the original

With its minimalist mood and simple silhouette, the reinterpreted Cartier Baignoire is part bangle, part watch, and references key moments in Cartier’s design history. Originally conceived in 1912, the Baignoire is commonly thought to take its name from the French word for bathtub, but it actually refers to VIP seats at the opera. ‘It was where the wealthy people sat,’ explains Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s image, style and heritage director. ‘There were six seats together, with a kind of barrier around them.’

Reinvented numerous times since its inception, today’s Cartier Baignoire subscribes to the poetry of reduction in its elegant play with precise geometrical forms. Designed to be worn as close to the wrist as possible, the flat face is a sleek foil for the contours of the bracelet. The design ‘is linked to our culture as a jeweller’, says Rainero. ‘When you’re a jeweller, [you are considering] the right fitting to the body, and beyond that, the way an object that you have on your body accompanies your movements, so it’s not a constraint, but, on the contrary, it adds magnificence to your movement. That is the key. This is the essence of being a jeweller, and in our way of creating watches, we always have it in mind – it’s second nature and obvious for us to stay true to it.’

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08. Chaumet spotlights the golden age of jewellery design in Paris

To step into the Chaumet exhibition, ‘Un Âge d’Or’, in Paris is to step back in time, into an era where avant-garde design entered the jewellery mainstream. Held in Chaumet’s home on the Place Vendôme, the exhibition, curated by Vanessa Cron, celebrates designs from the period 1965 – 1985, with jewellery from the brand joining exquisite objets d’art.

Furniture by Pierre Paulin, tapestries by Victor Vasarely, a ‘Togo’ sofa designed by Michel Ducaroy with Floraly fabric, a Gavrinis rug, fashion by Dior and Paco Rabanne and lithographs by Andy Warhol set the scene for the jewellery, which was in its most experimental era. In a direction spearheaded by René Morin, who joined Chaumet in 1962, and later by Pierre Sterlé, who joined the maison in 1976, jewellery became playful. 

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09. Aymer Maria jewellery gives historical references a modern spin

‘I have always been fascinated by the concept of wearing a piece of art as jewellery. I remember looking at my mother’s 1980s costume jewellery pieces by Yves Saint Laurent, Butler & Wilson and that sort of stuff. The big shoulder pads, the style, the red lipstick was a real wow for me as a child,’ relates Ruth Aymer, founder of Aymer Maria, a contemporary jewellery house that takes the built environment in all its iterations as a muse and conduit to deeper truths.

Aymer, who was raised in London and is of Dominican and Sierra Leonean heritage, didn’t immediately actualise her observations into an intention to found a jewellery house. However, the seeds of ambition were further germinated by childhood walks in London’s Pimlico and Belgravia, where Thomas Cubitt’s terraces ‘were so pleasing to see, from the symmetry of houses to the stucco fronts and columns’. Only as an adult, after the pandemic provided the necessary pause, did her ideas finally percolate. ‘I thought, “If I don’t start now I never will!'” 

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10. Feast your eyes: Nadine Ghosn brings cutlery-inspired jewellery to the table

Everyday items take on a precious significance in the hands of jewellery designer Nadine Ghosn – featured in our Wallpaper* USA 300 – who brings a mischievousness to eating and drinking accessories in her recent collection, Youtensils. A spoon dipped in diamond-encrusted Nutella, gold straws that wind their way around the wrist, and a name spelt in alphabet-soup letters comprise a playful take on the quotidian, all in Ghosn’s signature tongue-in-cheek style.

‘I am attracted to the things that we may not notice or honour daily that help us to live a better life – the hidden, the unrecognised,’ says Ghosn. ‘I didn’t come from a conventional jewellery background. When I first shared that I wanted to explore jewellery, I was led to two limiting beliefs: that the competition is fierce, and that I would fail. I had nothing to lose and everything to prove. 

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The richness of Islamic art entranced Louis and Jacques Cartier, two of the founder’s grandsons, who weaved references to it throughout jewellery and artefacts from the 1920s onwards. It is an enduring inspiration for the jewellery maison, and one which it has celebrated at exhibitions in Paris in 2021 and Dallas in 2022. Now, Cartier is building on this history with a new exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi – ‘Cartier, Islamic Inspiration and Modern Design’. 

Organised by Louvre Abu Dhabi, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Musée du Louvre and France Museums, in collaboration with Cartier, it marks both the 40th time Cartier’s pieces have been exhibited and 40 years of the Cartier Collection, the historical collection of jewels carefully maintained by the maison.

Elizabeth Diller, whose practice Diller Scofidio + Renfro designed the previous
shows, returns for the design of the exhibition, which encompasses 420 items in total, including 200 pieces from the Cartier Collection. 

Curator Evelyne Possémé considers the impact impressionist and geometric artworks had on the Cartier aesthetic, examining how Islamic art’s influence was translated into intricate and vibrant jewellery design in a delicious feast of colour and craftsmanship. Exceptional pieces on display here include jewel-studded vanity cases from the 1920s, architectural necklaces studded with rainbows of precious stones and remarkable clocks in rock crystal. 

‘Cartier, Islamic Inspiration and Modern Design’ is on display from 15 November 2023 – 24 March 2024 at Louvre Abu Dhabi

louvreabudhabi.ae

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The Cartier Tank watch rethought traditional watchmaking codes upon its first appearance in 1917, with Louis Cartier’s distinctive square-shaped silhouette an avant-garde antidote to the watch’s typically round face. Famously inspired by the design of a military tank, the original watch marked the beginning of a design journey which went on to encompass everything from asymmetric editions to a curved case.

Celebrating the Cartier Tank watch

The Tank Cintrée was the first original offshoot from the iconic design. Created in 1921, it marked the first use of the rectangular profile, paired with a curved case and slender profile to ensure a close fit against the wrist. Now, it is the latest watch family to join Les Rééditions de Cartier, an initiative begun in 2021 which sees watches produced as closely as possible to their original format. Past editions have seen the celebration of the Pasha Calendrier Perpétuel and the Tank Cintrée in yellow gold, produced in a limited edition of 150 to mark its centenary, in 2021, and the Pebble watch in 2022, which marked its 50th anniversary. 

This year’s special edition nods to the original Tank Cintrée watch in platinum, which appeared a century ago. Recreated now again in precious platinum and with a ruby set in a cabochon on the crown, it is an apt and elegant interpretation. 

It is the latest initiative to celebrate a horological milestone, as Cartier is also this year marking the 170th anniversary of the first Cartier timepiece. The Tank Louis Cartier Limited Edition, created in an edition of 170 pieces, is inspired by a 1995 watch created as an ode to 1925’s Decorative Arts Exhibition. Today’s limited edition also references this understated embellishment, with intricate laser engraving on the dial brilliantly refracting light. 

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Rose perfumes have traditionally been characterised as the olfactory equivalent to pop music – guaranteed crowdpleasers, easily accessible. Recently, however, a host of niche perfumers and big-name brands have been experimenting with rose fragrances, taking the ubiquity of the scent as a challenge to create perfumes that subvert exceptions and offer a new perspective on an old classic.

Here, we sniff out the best of these experimental rose scents.  

Café Rose by Tom Ford

Tom Ford’s newest rose fragrance, Café Rose, leans heavily into its ingredients’ gourmand factor. Put together as an unlikely yet complementary combination of coffee and rose, the scent conveys an untamed sensuality that pairs refined Turkish rose essence with that of dark coffee. Opening with a floral accord, which also includes rose Bulgaria and ylang ylang, the scent gives way to a spicier heart of coriander, cardamom and patchouli, and ends in hints of incense resin and sandalwood. The perfume’s unexpected character carries through to its flaçon, a semi-transparent fluted pink bottle with a rose pink top and plaque.  

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Rose by Perfumer H

Perfumer H's Rose perfume is masterfully composed to smell exactly like its namesake. A high concentration of rose oil and absolute are combined with camomile Romaine, raspberry, geranium Egypt and a hint of iris and musk to create a luscious fragrance.  Spraying it on your skin is probably the closest you can ever come to actually wearing roses. 

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Elisabethan Rose

Leave it to the quintessential English perfume brand, Penhaligion's, to create an exceptional rose fragrance inspired by the flower of England— the Tudor rose. Inspired by the union of the houses York and Lancaster, Elizabethan Rose blends its central fragrance with Red Lily, Hazelnut Leaf, and Vetiver. It’s a light and airy floral perfect for those who prefer delicate fragrances. 

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Rosa Carnivora and Raving Rose by Dries Van Noten

Dries Van Noten’s newly launched beauty line (which debuted in Wallpaper* earlier this month) includes two rose perfumes that embody  the Belgian designer’s penchant for ‘impossible combinations.’ 

Rosa Carnivora, by perfumer Daphné Bugey, is a creamy blend of rose, vetiver, and patchouli, while Raving Rose, by perfumer Louise Turner, is a spicy take on the flower with a near startling infusion of pepper. The two fragrances ‘are kind of a kick in your face’, according to Van Noten with Rosa Carnivora a good match for those who prefer a more classically elegant rose fragrance and Raving Rose a good option for those who like more punchier, masculine scents.  

driesvannoten.com

Odeur Du Théâtre Du Châtelet by Comme des Garçons

Conceptualism has always been at the heart of Comme des Garçons’ fragrances, with scents designed to evoke the ink of a calligrapher’s studio, lime soda, and ‘grilled cigarettes teamed with town gas’. With Odeur Du Théâtre Du Châtelet – inspired by the Paris theatre – the brand once again presents an ‘anti-perfume’ that challenges common notions of what makes a smell pleasurable. 



The rose perfume was composed by perfumer Caroline Dumur in collaboration with Comme des Garçons’ founder Rei Kawakubo, and the Théâtre Du Châtelet’s then-artistic director Ruth Mackenzie (she left the theatre in August 2020). The aim of the project was to create a scent that captured the historic character of the theatre while hinting at its modern incarnation. The result blends the intensely rich, musky-floral notes of ambrette absolute with rose oxyd, black pepper oil, and coffee accord. 

It’s a curiously appealing fragrance, designed to evoke the theatre’s velvet seats, infused with the powdery, floral perfumes of its 19th-century audience layered with the modern, spicy fragrances favoured by modern theatregoers. Like all Comme des Garçons creations, it’s equal parts unexpected and beguiling.

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Eau de Parfum Eau Rose by Diptyque 

Newly reformatted Eau Rose perfume features two of perfumery’s mainstay roses – damascena and centifolia – alongside the fiard, an unusual third rose, in the form of an upcycled extract made from damascena rosewater discarded during the distillation process. More unexpected still is the inclusion of chamomile, artichoke and litchi, making for a bright, juicy rose perfume. 

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Rose 31 by Le Labo 

Le Labo’s Rose 31 perfume aims to transform the traditionally feminine Grasse Rose into an ‘assertively virile’ fragrance by blending it with warm and spicy notes of cumin, cedar and amber. Most interesting is the inclusion of musty cistus which gives Rose 31 a distinctly animal note. It’s an appealing alternative to Le Labo’s iconic Santal 33 with a warmer, and much less ubiquitous, aroma. 

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Georgette by Vyrao

Wearing Vyrao's Georgette perfume is the olfactory equivalent of diving into a pool of rose petals. The fragrance is weighty with Turkish rose accords, violet leaf, sandalwood and patchouli, with grounding base notes of pink pepper and black tobacco. 

What makes this perfume really stand out, however, is its use of Herkimer diamond crystals and integrative quantum medicine to take the healing principals of aromatherapy to a new level. The brand has ‘energetically charged’ each fragrance with the help of healer Louise Mita, whose practice combines Traditional Chinese Medicine techniques, Qi Gong, anatomical studies, and quantum theory to ‘unblock’ bad energies. While rose oil is meant to inspire enlightenment, violet leaf encourags self-expression, and guaiac wood clears energy.  

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Young Rose by Byredo 

Young Rose is the latest fragrance launch from Byredo. When creating the scent, Byredo’s founder, Ben Gorham, was inspired by the work of young creatives working in China today, including photographer Leslie Zhang who shot the Young Rose campaign images. 

The fragrance blends piquant notes of Sichuan pepper with Damask rose and Orris for a spicy take on a classic floral. ‘The next generation always has an emotional obligation to rework the traditions of their predecessors,’ says Gorham. ‘It’s their role to take that fearless dive into the unknown; to discover and develop what’s next. Young Rose salutes that spirit.’ 

cultbeauty.com

Doll by Mondo Mondo 

Mondo Mondo is perhaps best known for its gold and gem jewellery that looks ornate enough to belong on a Renaissance noblemen but with enough hearts and rhinestones that it appeals to a modern, cheeky sensibility. That baroque and playful spirit is on full display in the brand’s line of perfumes as well. 

Doll is a rose perfume that combines Bulgarian rose and rose de mai with saffron and musk to create a scent that verges on the overwhelming. It is a fragrance best suited to those who like to make a statement, ‘a hot, sweaty, electric rose,’ in the brands words. One that ‘will conjure an undeniable nostalgia for being a little brat.’ 

mondo-mondo.com

L'Heure Osée by Cartier

Cartier’s master perfumer, Mathilde Laurent, once again shows off her knack for artistry and innovation with L'Heure Osée. Laurent has spoken openly about her dislike of roses, what she calls ‘an emblem of femininity withered before it blooms,’ and so it is no surprise that her creation for Cartier is the antithesis of a typical rose perfume. 

A heavy dose of citrus notes gives L'Heure Osée a powerful punch, while notes of musk and hints of wood create a heady undertone. It is, in the brand’s words, a distinctly ‘un-cute’ rose fragrance. 

net-a-porter.com

L’Homme À La Rose by Maison Francis Kurkdjian

Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s L’Homme À La Rose is a is a masculine take on a scent traditionally typecast as one of the most feminine in perfumery. As such, it is a fascinating examination of the construct of ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ in fragrance.  

As Kurkdjian told Wallpaper* last year, what makes a scent ‘masculine’ is ultimately a question of timing. ‘What is masculine today may not have been masculine a decade ago and it may not be masculine two or three decades from now. The idea of masculinity and femininity, they are conventions and they are concepts that evolve with society.’ 

To create the essence of modern masculinity in this scent, Kurkdjian blends rose with citrusy grapefruit accord, heady amber woods, and fresh sage.  

franciskurkdjian.com

Rose & Cuir by Frederic Malle

Rose & Cuir is the handiwork of Jean-Claude Ellena, the former in-house perfumer for Hermès and a longtime Frederic Malle collaborator. With his characteristic ingenuity, Ellena has created a rose fragrance that is on the surface a unique, but not altogether revolutionary, interpretation of the floral that blends rose essence with pepper and cassis.

Give it time, however, and the scent eventually takes on an earthy, almost leathery quality, thanks to the use of vetiver and cedar. Most exceptional of all is its incorporation of IsoButyl Quinoline, an intensely bitter molecule that has been little used since its heyday in the 1920s.

libertylondon.com

Unrequited by Bel Rebel 

Ever wonder what those garish plastic roses sold on city sidewalks would smell like if they actually had a fragrance? Probably not, but if your curiosity is now piqued, pick up a bottle of Bel Rebel’s Unrequited. 

The scent has top notes of overtly synthetic-smelling rose oxide, and aldehydes, a chemical compound frequently used in perfumery. These are mixed with base notes of saffron and musks to create a smell that balances between plasticine and musky. 

belrebel.com

Celtic Rose by Alexander McQueen 

Leave it to the radical house of Alexander McQueen to design a rose perfume that eschews the classic simplicity of its counterparts. Celtic Rose draws its name from a traditional Celtic pattern, which weaves together multiple geometric forms to create a unified, perfectly symmetrical rose shape.

Both the pattern and the fragrance owe their allure to the complexity of their design. McQueen’s Celtic Rose takes a classic, delicate rose fragrance and adds a punch of black pepper to create a spicy floral.

harrods.com

The World Around and Fondation Cartier have announced a collaboration as they join forces to promote architecture and groundbreaking thinking in the field through a series of events. The partnership’s inaugural event, titled ‘In Focus: Radical Repair’, will take place at Triennale Milano in September 2023, and confirmed speakers include renowned, innovative architects such as Yameen Lari, Joseph Grima, and Jeanne Gang. 

The World Around and Fondation Cartier: inside the collaboration

The event will take on the format of past The World Around conferences (for instance, the summits of 2022 and 2021 were day-long conferences), as a curated sequence of captivating talks and topics, delivered by some of the most exciting architects working globally today. The discussions in September’s conference will tackle critical issues in the architecture field – challenges such as climate change and sustainable architecture, social justice, interdisciplinary work and blurring the boundaries of building design through creative collaboration beyond the strict limits of the industry. 

The event is curated by Beatrice Galilee, co-founder and executive director of The World Around, who was announced as part of our Wallpaper* USA 300 list, together with Béatrice Grenier, who is the director of curatorial affairs at Fondation Cartier. 

Galilee says: 'The World Around is thrilled to partner with Fondation Cartier, a visionary institution with a history of iconic commissions, exhibitions and programs with a really exciting future ahead. We are working closely with Fondation Cartier to create a unique collaborative program that speaks to our shared passion for a progressive, interdisciplinary perspective on contemporary architecture, and will be convening and amplifying the global voices we believe can change our world for the better.'

Meanwhile, a statement from the Fondation Cartier said: ‘The Fondation Cartier is excited to partner with The World Around, a forward-looking institution deeply committed to championing the role of designers and architects as actors of change and to building a community that federates solution-driven thinkers. We are proud to be working closely with The World Around on a joint program to foster debate, discussion and ideas around the most urgent issues of our time.’

theworldaround.com 
cartier.com 

With its minimalist mood and simple silhouette, the reinterpreted Cartier Baignoire is part bangle, part watch, and references key moments in Cartier’s design history. Originally conceived in 1912, the Baignoire is commonly thought to take its name from the French word for bathtub, but it actually refers to VIP seats at the opera. ‘It was where the wealthy people sat,’ explains Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s image, style and heritage director. ‘There were six seats together, with a kind of barrier around them.’

The new Cartier Baignoire watch

Reinvented numerous times since its inception, today’s Cartier Baignoire subscribes to the poetry of reduction in its elegant play with precise geometrical forms. Designed to be worn as close to the wrist as possible, the flat face is a sleek foil for the contours of the bracelet. The design ‘is linked to our culture as a jeweller’, says Rainero. ‘When you’re a jeweller, [you are considering] the right fitting to the body, and beyond that, the way an object that you have on your body accompanies your movements, so it’s not a constraint, but, on the contrary, it adds magnificence to your movement. That is the key. This is the essence of being a jeweller, and in our way of creating watches, we always have it in mind – it’s second nature and obvious for us to stay true to it.’

The new watch stays faithful to the clean, gold form of the original. The emphasis on flawless fit results in an amalgamation of elemental shapes; to keep the case sitting as closely as possible to the wrist, the loop of the bangle was designed as a fluid circle in its own right, cutting a slender silhouette.

‘We had different proposals with different volumes, and that’s the thing – you can only decide when you have the prototype; it’s not something you decide on the basis of a drawing,’ Rainero adds. ‘You have to have a volume in your hand to realise the effect it will have. The curve is slightly different to the one on the case; it couldn’t be exactly the same. You should have the impression that it is flat on the wrist underneath the bracelet. That’s why the curve doesn’t go to the end – it’s a question of proportions.’

cartier.com

A version of this article appears in the Wallpaper* July 2023 issue, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

The year's biggest horological event, Watches and Wonders 2023, has opened its doors in Geneva. Here, discover the watches set to make a splash this year, in our frequently updated guide.

Oris’ watch partnership with Kermit has us green with envy

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Read more here

Tag Heuer introduces coloured lab-grown diamonds into watch design

The use of lab-grown diamonds in watch design was a natural choice for Tag Heuer, which has long championed the use of modern and innovative technologies in watchmaking.  

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Panerai pays tribute to its military history with new Radiomir watches

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Vacheron Constantin champions retrograde display in new watches unveiled at Watches and Wonders

Vacheron Constantin rethinks classic watch design codes in its new collections. Both the new Patrimony Retrograde Day-Date and the Traditionnelle Tourbillon Retrograde Date Openface nod to the retrograde displays that first appeared in Vacheron Constantin timepieces in the 1920s, before briefly disappearing in the decades after. 

Read more here

Patek Philippe’s Watches and Wonders 2023 releases embody a sharp technicality

Complications meet design in this year’s new watches from Patek Philippe. Intricate watches get a rethink, with the brand’s most complicated watch in the current collection – encompassing 20 complications – produced for the first time in white and rose gold. The striking mechanism on the Patek Philippe 6300GR Grandmaster Chime is fitted with three gongs, with five chiming modes sounding out noises from an alarm with time strike to a grande sonnerie.

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Discover all the Rolex watches released at Watches and Wonders 2023

New Rolex watches nod to the sporty, the classic and the fun – discover the range, from the lightness and strength of the new Yacht-Master 42 to the emphasised legibility of a new addition to the Explorer family.

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Cartier rethinks classic watch design in Watches and Wonders 2023 releases

Classic watch design codes are given a spin by Cartier this year, as the company intertwines historical references throughout the new Cartier watch collections unveiled at Watches and Wonders 2023.

Read more here

Hermès Watches and Wonders pavilion inspired by new H08 watches

Artist Clément Vieille conducts an intricate play with materials in its scenography for the Hermès Watches and Wonders 2023 pavilion, which pays tribute to the complexity of time encapsulated in this year’s Hermès H08 collection.

Read more here

Watches and Wonders behind the scenes: building the world’s biggest watch fair

As Watches and Wonders 2023 gets ready to open in Geneva, we talk to CEO of the Watches and Wonders Geneva Foundation, Matthieu Humair, on what has inspired this year’s design.

Read more here

watchesandwonders.com

Classic watch design codes are given a spin by Cartier this year, as the company intertwines historical references throughout the new Cartier watch collections unveiled at Watches and Wonders 2023.

The new Cartier watches

Cartier Privé

The Tank, originally created in 1917 by Louis Cartier, is here given a new form by Cartier Privé in the Tank Normale, which stays faithful to the proportions of the original while also incorporating a skeleton movement. A 24-hour complication means that while the minute hand takes one hour to go round the dial, the hour hand goes round in 24 hours, rather than 12. The upper part of the dial is therefore dedicated to daytime hours, and the lower to nighttime, a transition reflected in a graceful gradient of hues.

Cartier Tank Américaine

The distinctive curves of the Tank Américaine are emphasised in this new version, which cuts a graceful silhouette thanks to its finer form. Available in all gold and steel with a leather strap, rose gold and diamonds with a leather strap, or diamond-pavéd white and rose gold with a metal bracelet, its integrated brancards ensuring it cuts a seamless loop.

Cartier Santos-Dumont

Technical expertise comes to the fore in the Santos-Dumont watch. A new skeleton calibre pays tribute to the spirit of Alberto Santos-Dumont, who designed more than 22 flying machines in his search for technical mastery.

Cartier Baignoire

The distinctive golden oval of the Baignoire watch, originally appearing in 1912, is highlighted here thanks to the rich gold ribbon that winds its way around the dial. 

Cartier Clash (Un)limited

Delight in a juxtaposition of textures in this year’s Clash (Un)limited, with sharp angles and graceful spheres in alternating brushed and satin-finished gold dotting the bracelet.

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A dedicated Cartier Guest Lounge greets those visiting the brand’s Tokyo HQ in the Hanzomon quarter on business. In it, guests can cool their heels before being ushered into the marque’s inner sanctum of meeting and conference rooms. The newly minted space adds another sleek layer to Cartier’s tony Chiyoda-Ku address, courtesy of local studio I IN, which also refurbished the main offices of Cartier’s Japanese headquarters, in 2022.

Designing the Cartier Guest Lounge

I IN proposed the lounge as an additional space to receive visitors, somewhere they ‘can feel immersed in the elegance and luxury of the brand, even though it really is an office lounge’, say the studio’s co-founders, Yohei Terui and Hiromu Yuyama. Balancing these branding objectives in the context of an existing physical space that had just been vacated by a previous tenant was challenging, even for a five-year-old boutique studio that has made its name creating small, perfectly formed worlds within constrained spaces. In the case of the Cartier Guest Lounge, the key was the lighting, and I IN bathed the room in an approximation of diffused daylight that Terui says softens not just shadows, but also the colours, shapes and materials, and creates a sensation of floating. 

Adding to the effect are two centrepieces. One is a broad rectangular counter in the centre of the lounge, its bulk sheathed with customised oak panels and capped with a slab of marble streaked with champagne-gold accents. Encircling this are slender high-top stools that their designer, the Hokkaido-based furniture maker Time & Style, has upholstered in a ridge-patterned Kvadrat fabric. ‘Textured materials create depth,’ Terui says. The second centrepiece is a faux skylight that blankets the entire length and breadth of the room, its glowing surface striated with a matt grid pattern that bends elegantly at the edges like the lid of a box.

Together, the two features elongate the space, especially when the side doors are open, pulling one’s eye out towards the adjoining meeting rooms with their vertiginous views of Tokyo’s skyscrapers beyond. At the edges of two diagonal corners of the lounge are bespoke curved settees which, in turn, are paired with round side tables designed by Time & Style, and bookended by planter-boxes, their leafy foliage mirrored in the patterns and colours of the sofa cushions. 

‘Though the whole space is dedicated to meeting rooms, we felt we needed a connecting foyer in which visitors can be introduced into Cartier’s world. This guest lounge is the point where they can really experience the luxury of the brand,’ say Terui and Yuyama. ‘What we’ve tried to achieve is a kind of quiet beauty, but in the context of the work environment of a prestigious luxury brand.’ Consider this mission accomplished. 

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Cartier has just unveiled a new installation that converts fragrance from an intangible sensation into a visible experience. The project is the brainchild of Cartier’s head perfumer Mathilde Laurent and follows on from Laurent’s 2017 installation outside the Palais de Tokyo, OSNI 1. 

Cartier OSNI 2 installation

OSNI 1 was a habitable glass cube with a single twisting staircase inside that led visitors through a floating cloud, up to a clear, perfume-filled vista. Like its predecessor, OSNI 2 The Scented Myth aims to bring perfume outside of the bottle and, consequently, recalibrate how people experience smell. 

The installation opens with a mythical incarnation of the Dame à la Panthère, an artwork created by artist George Barbier in 1914 for a Cartier invitation. As viewers step further into darkness, they watch as the silhouette of the panther moves around the space in the form of thousands of luminous particles. In the background, a gentle soundscape composed around the golden ratio frequency plays, adding to the dreamlike atmosphere. 

‘At the meeting point of chemistry and alchemy, of the infinitely large and the infinitely small, perfume is much more than simply applying a scent on ourselves,’ says Laurent, who unveiled her apartment-style Cartier fragrance laboratory earlier in 2022.

'A manifestation of the invisible and the impalpable, it questions our human condition within the universe and blurs the boundaries that separate the molecular level from the cosmic, the physical from the metaphysical. Because it supports humanity in its daily life while at the same time questioning the nature of the world, perfume works in tandem with art. My dearest wish is to make this convergence apparent to all.’ 

OSNI 2 is open to the public until 11 December at 2, rue Robert Esnault-Pelterie, 75007 Paris

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Cartier has reopened the doors of its flagship Paris boutique following an extensive two-year renovation. The boutique, at 13 rue de la Paix, draws on the design codes of the original space, which opened in 1899, coinciding with Louis Cartier’s arrival as head of the house.

Original design features – the architectural identity of the building remains, as does the original façade and historical details including decorative mouldings – sit alongside bright and contemporary accents, with a glass roof flooding the six new floors with light.

The boutique itself occupies the ground and first two floors of the building, with the third floor reserved for services for clients and the fourth home to high jewellery workshops. On the fifth and sixth floors, visitors can find the archives, a winter garden, and a space reserved for entertaining and events. 

The Moinard Bétaille agency, which has designed Cartier boutiques for more than 20 years, is responsible for the first three levels, with architects Claire Bétaille and Bruno Moinard shifting the focus to an opening up of the space. Guests are invited to explore every area, each with its new identity, discovering the classic motifs from Cartier’s history, which sit alongside new pieces. Separate wood-panelled rooms become a warm home for historic pieces, including Jean Cocteau’s academician sword from the Académie Française and a collection of rare books in the Louis Cartier Salon.

The 18 artisans on the third floor and in the high jewellery workshops of the fourth floor enjoy optimal conditions in an abundance of natural light. 

Architects and designers Laurène Barbier Tardrew and Romain Jourdan of Studioparisien agency, responsible for the two floors, marry an elegant aesthetic with modern design and an emphasis on archetypically Parisian design codes, making the city’s skyline, lighting fixtures of the palaces, and Haussmannian interiors central to the design. 

On the fifth and top floor, architect Laura Gonzalez celebrates cultural forms in an exploration of technique and craftsmanship, encapsulated in both mosaicist Pierre Mesguich’s branches of glass and mosaic floor of the winter garden, and in the luxury crafts of Laura Gonzalez, Ateliers Gohard and Lucie Touré. 

‘From the very beginning, the boutique has been unique because of its universal vocation: its opening in 1899 is associated with the arrival of Louis Cartier at the head of the maison and the establishment of the design studio,’ says Pierre Rainero, director of image, style and heritage at Cartier. ‘As the cradle of major stylistic trends in jewellery, the 13 Paix boutique has always been a source of inspiration for Cartier maisons around the world.’

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Approached from the south, Es Devlin’s new public artwork in the Tate Modern Garden appears as an architectural homage, a monumental scale model of the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral, right across the Thames from Christopher Wren’s original. In Devlin’s piece – titled Come Home Again, and commissioned by Cartier, the dome has been sliced open to reveal its cross-section, brilliantly illuminated and adorned from tip to toe with cut-out sketches of moths, birds, beetles, wildflowers, fish and fungi. At its base are steps that lead up to choral risers, inviting passers-by to immerse themselves in Devlin’s pencil-drawn wildlife.

By day, Come Home Again is a place for contemplation and learning. Stepping into the dome allows the visitor to examine the drawings up close – there are 243 in total, representing the 243 priority species identified by the London Biodiversity Action Plan as declining in numbers in the capital and thus in need of conservation action. In lieu of the prayer books that one might expect in a place of worship, Devlin has placed QR codes that link to a guide to all the species. Just as important is the soundscape, created by Devlin’s habitual music collaborators Jade Pybus and Andy Theakstone, and interspersing recordings of various choirs singing the Latin names of the priority species with the animals’ actual sounds. Every few minutes, the glorious cacophony fades and Devlin’s voice emerges to introduce one of the species. She says its common and Latin names, and brings up a nugget of information that helps us remember the animal. We learn, for instance, that the swift (Apus apus) can fly the equivalent of eight trips to the moon and back in its lifetime.

‘I want to help people learn the names of these animals,’ explains Devlin as we speak in her south London studio two weeks ahead of Come Home Again’s unveiling.

‘Once you know their names, you make a place for them in your imagination – it’s like the memory palace. And you’ll always think of them differently.’

Even for an artist and designer who is used to being in the limelight (Devlin’s portfolio includes stage sets for Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Kanye West and U2, as well as Olympic ceremonies in London and Rio), Come Home Again is a project of great prominence. Tate Modern is among London’s most visited attractions, and even more people pass by its riverfront each day – so the museum is very selective about what it allows to be placed in the garden. The site also has personal significance to Devlin, a native Londoner: ‘For me, Tate Modern is emblematic of a real shift in British culture: its opening coincided with a shift in our character as a country and city, with New Labour and the rise of the YBAs. Suddenly British culture was significant on the world stage, when it hadn’t been for many years.’

The view of St Paul’s from the Tate Modern Garden makes the cathedral a natural starting point for a site-specific commission, but it was a conversation a few years ago with Ben Evans, director of the London Design Festival, that spurred Devlin to join the dots between the two spaces. ‘He said, “Es, you should think about the connection between St Paul’s as a seat of ancient ecclesiastical power, and the Tate as a seat of historical industrial power [the museum building was once the Bankside Power Station], and now a seat of contemporary cultural power. Consider that convergence of energies and think about what you might do”,’ Devlin recalls, as we pore over sketches and renderings of Come Home Again.

Around the same time as her conversation with Evans, Devlin was discovering books on eco-philosophy – encouraged by the likes of Hans Ulrich Obrist and Alice Rawsthorn, and facilitated by the Amazon algorithm. The latter led her to the two most important volumes influencing her worldview and practice today: David Abram’s Becoming Animal (‘he talks a lot about magic, and how we can shift our perceptions if we just interrupt our usual ways of seeing things’, she recaps.), and Joanna Macy’s World as Lover, World as Self. ‘Macy invites you to consider where your self ends, invites you to recognise that you feel selfish, you feel a sense of self-preservation,’ says Devlin. ‘But what if where you considered self to reside was more expansive than just in your own body and in your own mind?’

Much of Devlin’s recent work reflects on Abram and Macy: there’s Forest for Change, which planted 400 trees within the courtyard of London’s Somerset House to raise awareness for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and similarly Conference of the Trees, which populated the New York Times’ Climate Hub at COP26 in Glasgow with 197 trees and plants. Her widely photographed and Instagrammed mirror labyrinth, Forest of Us, likewise carries an environmental message; in her words ‘it calls people’s attention to the connection between themselves and the planet’. Come Home Again, with its evocation of animal species which Devlin calls ‘non-human Londoners’, continues in this vein. ‘Humans went through a period of separation from the biosphere in order to learn more about it, in order to specialise. But now we need to reconnect, and come home again to our mutual planet,’ says Devlin, adding that the words ‘dome’ and ‘home’ share etymological roots.

In her bid to better connect with the 243 priority species, Devlin decided to draw each of them in pencil on paper, using photographs as reference material. ‘That kind of observational drawing has not been part of my practice since I was doing my art A-level, but I wanted this sense of submitting to the observation of a life that’s not my own,’ she says. ‘I wasn’t trying to be expressive. So my drawing of the bumblebee isn’t my interpretation of the bumblebee, but an effort to learn the bumblebee’s ways.’

It was a four-month process that involved a few 18-hour days, and gave Devlin ample opportunity to listen to podcasts about London wildlife, and wildlife in general. The fruits of her labour are evident in the ease with which she can now identify each species and rattle off factoids: she points out, for instance, that the streaked bombardier beetle was thought to be extinct until 85 of them were counted in the borough of Tower Hamlets, and has since become a subject in the artwork of Sonia Boyce, who won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Biennale.

Within Come Home Again, Devlin’s 243 sketches have been enlarged, printed on a sustainably sourced birch ply, cut out, and displayed across the dome’s cross-section, with strips of LEDs stuck on the back for illumination (these will go back to inventory after the exhibition). The structure is made in recycled steel and stretched fabric, and she’s opted for an environmentally friendly matte paint finish, all to keep the installation’s carbon footprint to a minimum and thus align with its message. 

Elegant and impactful as it is in the daytime, it is at sunset that Come Home Again truly comes to life. Each evening until 1 October, a London-based choral group will come to the installation and sing their interpretation of choral evensong, which members of the public can enjoy free of charge and without prior booking. Devlin got the idea from her visit to St Paul’s, where she observed the daily ritual that marks the moment as the day turns to evening: ‘listening to evensong, I thought, where else would you get this experience? They’re going to sing whether you turn up or not, so it’s not a performance. It’s actually a call to prayer, a relic of a time of matins, nones and vespers. You feel like you’re part of an ancient mode of telling time. Whoever you are, you can walk in and be surrounded by this extraordinary body of music.’

The choral lineup is illustrious and reflective of London’s cultural makeup, ranging from the award-winning Tenebrae, to the London Bulgarian Choir and the South African Cultural Gospel Choir UK. They will be singing in English, Latin, Bulgarian and Xhosa – ‘I’m interested in the parallel concerns of diminishing biodiversity and diminishing linguistic diversity,’ Devlin says. ‘We’re homogenising, and our ethnosphere has also been impoverished in parallel to the biosphere. There’s an extraordinary document on endangered languages, and how you feel when you read it is also how you feel when you see the last polar bear on the last floating bit of ice. I wanted to make that connection too.’ 

She is particularly looking forward to the performance by The Choir with No Name, a chorus for homeless and marginalised people to experience the joy of singing together. ‘I defy anyone not to cry on that night. Because we’re talking about homes, and here we have people who don’t have homes, singing their hearts out. I think it’s going to be incredibly moving.’

Devlin likes to include a clear call-to-action with each installation. So just as Forest of Us in Miami encouraged visitors to make a donation to Instituto Terra, a non-profit organisation dedicated to recovering the Atlantic Forest, Come Home Again encourages audiences to contribute to and engage with the London Wildlife Trust, which protects, conserves and enhances the capital’s wildlife and wild spaces.

It’s a cause that equally resonates with Cartier, with whom Devlin has a longstanding relationship (She cites the 2019 exhibition ‘Trees’ at Fondation Cartier, which brought together artists, botanists and philosophers, as an inspiration for her recent practice). Says Cyrille Vigneron, CEO of Cartier, ‘with Come Home Again, Es Devlin has created a unique and thought-provoking work of art, a choral sculpture representing how inspiring, yet fragile the beauty of the world can be, calling to preserve earth’s natural biodiversity.’

Ultimately, Come Home Again offers a message of hope, suggesting that if we take swift and decisive action to remedy past wrongs, we can return to a happier state of equilibrium with the planet. As Devlin says in the installation’s soundscape, quoting Joanna Macy: ‘May we turn inwards and stumble upon our true roots in the intertwining biology of this exquisite planet. [...] Now it can dawn on us. We are our world knowing itself. We can relinquish our separateness, we can come home again.’

Come Home Again, until 1 October 2022 at the Tate Modern Garden, Bankside, London SE1, esdevlin.com, cartier.com, wildlondon.org.uk

Cartier perfumer Mathilde Laurent has created a singular fragrance laboratory in the heart of Paris’ golden triangle, on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. Laurent has been the in-house perfumer for the brand since 2005 and her previous lab in the Fondation Cartier building was a captivating blend of clinical and commercial aesthetics, featuring perfume-lined shelves that recalled Damien Hirst's Pharmacy and a glass-paned office reminiscent of American fashion designer Halston’s in the Olympic Tower (as seen in the eponymous Netflix series). 

Laurent’s new interiors maintain the appealingly clean style of the former space, but are infused with the warmth and cosiness of a Parisian apartment.

Nestled under a row of rooftops, the cloistered space has been designed to evoke the natural world, with a Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance chaise longue evoking a cluster of trees, a Nendo for Moroso table of clouds, and Stéphanie Marin pebble-like ‘Livingstones’ cushions. 

An oversized plaster nose modelled after a sculpture in the Hellenic collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs emerges from the wall and greets visitors as soon as they walk in. Upstairs is a terrace with a plant sanctuary where fresh herbs and flowers are gathered and used to make herbal teas, which are served as a ‘warm perfume’.

Laurent thinks of Cartier’s fragrances as invisible jewellery and her new studio does have the ambience of a jewellery workshop, with precious design objects scattered around its various white surfaces. 

For Laurent, art, design and fragrance are all fundamental elements of Cartier’s identity. As she told us ahead of the launch of the house’s OSNI 1 art installation in 2017 (a cloud- and perfume-filled glass pavilion at the Palais de Tokyo), ‘I’m not an artist, but it’s good to remember that Cartier has always considered and been close to contemporary art – from the creation of Fondation Cartier in the 1970s. I feel that to create a piece like this is our duty as a house because it’s important that we sustain olfactory art like all others. Sense of smell is very important.’

INFORMATION

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Cartier’s freshly refurbished Japanese headquarters in Tokyo’s Hanzomon quarter are not just an elegant, understated head-turner, the project is also a quiet case study in how a marque’s visual identity can be effectively channelled into something so quotidian as an office space. 

For Tokyo-based studio I IN, the specific challenge was to create a setting that enabled Cartier’s staff to feel and touch the brand’s identity on a subliminal level. ‘How could we bring the essence of luxury with which Cartier is associated into its working space?’ asked the studio’s founders, Yohei Terui and Hiromu Yuyama. The solution was to deploy a judicious mix of colour, specially commissioned textiles, and lighting – both natural and artificial – within the open-plan space.

Red, a colour long associated with Cartier, appears in strategic locations – in the plush circular sofa in the foyer, sheathed in Kvadrat fabric; in the raised tatami-matted platform whose piping was created by Kyoto-based artisans Hosoo; and as accents in the staff locker room. Champagne gold, another Cartier hallmark, shows up in vertical floor-to-ceiling louvre panels; plush carpets woven by Yamagata Dantsu, one of Japan’s oldest carpet suppliers; bijoux table stands; abstract chandeliers and wall art; and even in the metal strips in an oversized central work desk. 

On every metric, the mood board is resolutely luxurious, not least a harmonious interpretation of a French brand that’s overlaid with a quiet Japanese presence. And with bracing forested views of the Imperial Palace’s gardens, to boot. 

This is no mean feat. As Terui and Yuyama point out, office spaces tend to be very functional with limited scope to express a brand’s identity. But as the pair’s work on Cartier’s Japanese headquarters shows, an imaginatively conceived office can also allow its staff ‘to feel and touch the brand’s identity every day on a deeper level’.

INFORMATION

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Cartier is celebrating the beauty of craftsmanship at this year’s Homo Faber, a celebration of artisans and their creations taking place in Venice. The open event unites luxury houses in an exhibition curated by Judith Clark, in a setting that encourages visitors to observe master artisans at work. The design, in its open-plan informality, is reminiscent of Renaissance workshops, where gem-carvers, embroiderers, sculptors and goldsmiths worked on pieces together.

It is an ethos Cartier encapsulates with the unveiling of a unique piece exclusively for Homo Faber, which merges jewellery, glyptics (the engraving or sculpting of gems or hard stones) and straw marquetry while also paying tribute to Homo Faber’s guest of honour, Japan.

‘When you are artisans, you have to master your technique first,’ says Cartier image, style and heritage director Pierre Rainero of the brand’s championing of the spirit of collaboration. ‘It's only when you master your technique that you can think about challenging the creative part. And it's very interesting because when we work with different artisans, we like to face initiatives – if it was just focusing on the execution, I think it would be a very poor result. There is a big difference between artisans who will only execute, and an artisan who is a master, who has mastered the technique enough to have the strength to propose new ways and to go beyond the traditional boundaries.’

The unique piece, which is at once jewellery and objet d’art, pays tribute to this philosophy. A delicate box in white opal features a flower with hand-carved petals of pink chalcedony that rests on the lid and can be detached and worn as a brooch; the box’s outer curves, meanwhile, are hugged by a diamond bracelet, sprinkled with pink diamonds, that can also be worn around the wrist.

Artisan engraver-sculptor Philippe Nicolas brings his years of experience to the delicate process of glyptics. After receiving the title of maître d’art from the French Ministry of Culture in 2008, Nicolas is dedicated to passing on his extensive knowledge, and since joining Cartier in 2010, has headed a workshop where he trains apprentices.

‘Being a maître d’art means that I have made a moral and ethical commitment to pass on my know-how, art and a cultural tradition,’ he says. He brings patience to the delicate art form, with the engraving of a gem taking anything from five months to two and a half years. ‘Our tools are no longer those of humankind’s first steps in the world of sculpture,’ he adds. ‘The biggest advancements in the past 50 years have come from the introduction of diamond tools and the micro-motor.’

Cartier’s unique piece for Homo Faber also celebrates the art of straw marquetry, where dry stalks of rye are cut, dyed and glued to flat surfaces to make decorative panels. In this piece, a geometric pattern in the pastel hues of cherry blossoms adorns the box, visible once the bracelet has been removed.

‘It is interesting to show that the creation can be a collective work if there is respect on each point,’ Rainero says. ‘Sometimes we see constraints, but we love challenges and we love to create new things.’

INFORMATION

Homo Faber is taking place until 1 May 2022

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A menagerie of animals combines to make fantastical forms in the new Cartier high jewellery watches. Crocodiles, panthers, zebras, giraffes and tigers playfully wrest a diamond-studded dial in the Indomptables de Cartier collection, which draws on Cartier’s rich history of incorporating animals into humorous and intricate designs.

‘Two animals or the same animal’s head facing another head is tradition in ancient jewellery from Greece or China and even the Middle East, so it is really as old as jewellery is,’ points out Cartier director of image, style and heritage Pierre Rainero. ‘So it’s an allusion to the essence of the roots of jewellery, but also a play with the Cartier way of representing animals, because we always had that kind of representation in rings, necklaces, and bracelets, but this time we went further, opposing or creating encounters between different animals, and Cartier animals because all of them belong to the traditional Cartier Bestiary: the crocodiles, the tigers, the panthers, the giraffes, the zebras. So we also have that playfulness here, and it’s intentional.’ With the animals embracing unexpected patterns, the pieces not only subvert traditional representations but also encompass playful design codes.

The depiction of the animals themselves is a naturalistic one, reflected in the glistening of the crocodile’s scales and the graphic stripes of the zebra. ‘There is a refinement linked to the naturalistic approach, which is in the design,’ says Rainero. ‘The design on paper is an intention to show the effect or the field in which we want to put the creation, but then there’s a step which is very important, which is the sculpture itself. In fact, we can only be satisfied when the sculpture, which is a piece of art in a way, is achieved. The scales, fur or even expression of the head of each of the animals is decided at the stage of a sculpture.’

He adds: 'It is a spontaneous creation, and the motivation is there to push further in the way Cartier creates and that sense of humour is something we discussed with the designers because it was very present, for instance, in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. We thought that today we needed that again.’

INFORMATION

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Bulgari: The rectangular form of baguette-cut diamonds presents the gemsetter with a graphic tool, here adding depth to Bulgari’s white-diamond spirals and figurative definition to the ‘Serpenti’ brooch. Pictured, ‘The Magnificent Inspirations’ brooch (far left) in platinum with 60 round brilliant- (29.28ct) and tapered baguette-cut diamonds (7.02ct); the ‘Magnificent Inspirations Serpenti’ brooch (top) in white gold, with baguette- and tapered cut diamonds (6.92ct) and standout square- (2.01ct) and pear-cut diamonds, both by Bulgari.

De Beers: Baguette-cut diamond spokes form an abstract framework for De Beers’ diamond medallion. Pictured, brooch (bottom), detachable from the ‘Elizabeth Tower’ necklace, in white gold with 356 diamonds in four cuts – round, princess, baguette, pear – including the central round brilliant (3.03ct), by De Beers. Jacket, by Christian Wijnants.

Fashion: Jason Hughes. Watches & Jewellery director: Caragh McKay

The brooch as a jewel form has been somewhat undervalued in recent years. Commonly perceived as being out of sync with contemporary tastes, its often-baroque nature is often dismissed as being too narrative rich for simpler, cleaner tastes. But brooches are best viewed beyond fashion, in high jewellery terms, as three-dimensional sculptures that push expectations of the materials used. Unlike like rings or earrings, they are not restricted to a particular part of the body – brooches allow designers and makers broader artistic scope. Toying with scale, perspective and traditional notions, as our story (first published in Wallpaper’s October 2016 issue) shows, when designed and crafted at this level, the brooch can become a powerful art object in its own right.

Harry Winston: A spray of knife-set diamonds forms this meditation on two classic stone cuts – round- brilliant and pear. ‘Cascading Drop’ brooch in platinum with 169 round brilliant and 16 pear-shape diamonds (totalling 35.21ct), by Harry Winston. Dress, by Boss

Tiffany & Co: Legendary Tiffany jewellery designer Jean Schlumberger was drawn to the irregularities of natural forms, slight ugliness being a necessary 
foil for an overtly romantic outcome. In turn, their intricate twists and turns allow gemsetters to display their own talents, as with 
this re-edition of a 1950s Schlumberger brooch. ‘Jean Schlumberger Guadeloupe’ brooch (top), from the 2016 Masterpieces collection, in 18ct gold with 79 round pink spinels (11.21ct) and eight round spessartites (1.37ct), by Tiffany & Co.

Cindy Chao: The freedom to express 
her sculptor’s instincts 
in various jewelled forms 
makes brooches the standout design in each Chao collection. Her 
fine art approach manifests 
in the ‘Rose Petals’ brooch, created in four parts. ‘Rose Petals’ brooch in silver and 18ct yellow gold (only two pieces shown), with central oval-cut diamonds (1.51ct and 2.05ct) and various cuts totalling 48.12ct, by Cindy Chao. Jacket, by Cédric Charlier

Chaumet: a pear-cut exclamation point highlights the vivacious character of Chaumet’s summer wheatsheaf. Its elegant nature is distinguished by exquisite craftsmanship. La Nature de Chaumet ‘Offrandes d’Été’ brooch (on collar) in white gold and brilliant-cut diamonds, with 2.21ct pear drop.

Dior Joaillerie: Interior details from the Château de Versailles are translated into tangled, sculpted jewels shimmering with sizeable velvet-hued stones. Designing the pieces as if viewed by candlelight led designer Victoire de Castellane to consider alternative materials, such as blackened silver.
Dior à Versailles ‘Salon de Diane’ brooch (left) in white, yellow and pink gold, and darkened silver, with 154 round- (6.21ct) and three pear-cut diamonds (1.51ct; 1.01ct; 0.70ct) and pear-cut emerald (2.18ct), by Dior Joaillerie.

Piaget: the watchmaker-jeweller’s distinct house engraving techniques add a lush, organic feel to this fan of red-gold palm leaves, pinched artfully together with a 2.51ct green tourmaline baguette.
Brooch (right), detachable from The Sunny Side of Life ‘Golden Palm’ necklace, in 18ct red gold with green tourmaline baguette (2.51ct), and 60 white diamonds (15ct), by Piaget. Cape; coat (worn underneath), both by Agnona

Suzanne Syz: Her pop art background and craftsman’s approach are
 the fundamentals in Suzanne Syz’s postmodern creations, 
as this grotesque mélange 
of rare materials and cartoon-
like references reveals. ‘Kermit on a Lilypad’ brooch (top) in yellow gold with chrysoprase, spessartite garnets (38.03ct), tsavorites (45.89ct), cabochon rubies (0.66ct) and diamonds (0.29ct), by Suzanne Syz.

Chanel Fine Jewellery: The ancient symbolism 
of wheat inspired Chanel’s 
Les Blés de Chanel collection, which is why 
it is quietly, beautifully rooted in Classicism. Moisson Ensoleillée’
brooch (right) in 18ct white and yellow gold, with 19 marquise-, seven pear- and 168 brilliant-cut diamonds, 209 brilliant-cut yellow sapphires and one central octagonal-cut African yellow sapphire (10.22ct), 
by Chanel. Jacket, by Victoria Beckham

Louis Vuitton: the new era of brooch designs reflects 19th-century tastes, where the highly precious nature of materials did not inhibit scale, nor restrict a brooch to a particular area of the body, as in Louis Vuitton’s ‘lace’ garland of diamonds. ‘Diamonds’ brooch (top) in white gold with diamonds (10.74ct), from the Dentelle de Monogram collection, by Louis Vuitton.

Boucheron: Designer Claire Choisne’s plush peacock plume of diamonds is crafted in two pieces, designed to create the illusion of bird feathers transforming into a flock. ‘Plume de Paon’ brooch (below) in 18ct white gold with one pear-cut diamond (0.08ct) and 499 round brilliants (3.33ct), by Boucheron
Top, £395, by Pringle of Scotland. Skirt, by Marni

Amrapali: Polished perfection is not typical of the traditional Indian fine jewellery aesthetic, where the 
visceral power of stones 
is paramount. This white-gold wreath design of 
non-uniform pearls and tumbled 45.64ct rubellite tourmaline underlines 
the organic Indian style. Brooch in 14ct gold and sterling silver, with 
128 round brilliant-cut diamonds (0.76ct); 
oval-cut emerald (1.15ct) and 14 South Sea pearls (9.46ct), with central tumbled rubellite tourmaline briolette (45.64ct), by Amrapali.

Cartier: The French jewellery house’s creative links to India 
and its particular jewellery design codes are reflected 
in the compelling nature 
of this carved rubellite. ‘Caresse d’Orchidées’ brooch of rubellite tourmaline (414.45ct), 
with one diamond pear- (0.73ct) and 186 round brilliant-cut diamonds (2.08ct), by Cartier. Jacket, by MaxMara

Graff: Gradating tiers of marquise-cut diamonds add a natural sense of movement to Graff’s magnificent ‘Bird of Paradise’ and its everlasting delivery of a 2.02ct pear drop. Pavéd brilliants add volume and texture to its narrative form. ‘Bird of Paradise’ brooch 
in 350 diamonds (27ct), including pavé set, 
pear- and marquise-cut, with central 2.02ct pear, 
by Graff. Top, by Bally

High jewellery meets horological expertise in the Cartier Clash [Un]Limited mitten watch, which envelops a Baignoire Allongée timepiece in a sensual gold and diamond mitten. The mitten, crafted from supple rose gold mesh and set with nearly 1,600 diamonds, was created in collaboration with a master glove-maker to ensure it drapes fluidly over the hand, making for a precious second skin. Created using 3D printing, the intricate design proved challenging for watchmakers and jewellers, who meticulously assembled thousands of microscopic pieces of gold using lasers and small pliers more commonly used for microsurgery. The diamond-pavéd dial of the Baignoire Allongée watch inside, the crown of which is cleverly concealed under the dial, ensures a seamless silhouette between the glove and the watch.

Cartier glove watch continues tradition of technical innovation

The Cartier mitten watch, which took almost two years to develop, is the latest in a long line of technically innovative jewels and watches, which first began to appear in 1847. Inspired by cultures around the world, the maison has produced intricate and exquisite pieces of high jewellery that utilise both unusual materials and intricate techniques. Tiaras knitted in onyx, natural pearls and diamonds join scarab brooches and the ubiquitous panther, perching on a Kashmir sapphire in one mischievous brooch. Precious objects, including crystal and enamel perfume bottles, an Egyptian sarcophagus vanity case in gold, platinum, engraved bone, onyx and enamel and a sword designed for Jean Cocteau – complete with an emerald donated by Coco Chanel – also subscribe to avant-garde design codes.

Watchmaking, too, has pushed the boundaries of classic design to create pieces that are extraordinary objets d’art in their own right. From enamelled watches on chains created in the 19th century to clocks in platinum and rock crystal and others in mother-of-pearl, lapis lazuli and enamel, each piece incorporates both a high jewellery aesthetic and dazzling artistry.

INFORMATION
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A version of this article appears in the Design Awards February 2022 issue of Wallpaper* (W*274). Subscribe today

A new Cartier exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, explores the enduring influence Islamic art has had on the maison’s jewellery and precious objects. American architectural firm DS+R (Diller Scofidio + Renfro) – including former Wallpaper* guest editor and Design Awards Judge Liz Diller – has designed the scenography for ‘Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity’, which takes an all-encompassing journey into the influence of the culture on the maison, framed against the cultural context of Paris in the early 20th century.

Discovering the history of Cartier’s relationship with Islamic Art

The Cartier exhibition, by focusing on the early 20th century, puts Louis and Jacques Cartier, two of the founder’s grandsons, at the centre of the story. For director of image, style and heritage at Cartier International, Pierre Rainero, the cultural events of the era make it a crucial part of Cartier’s history. ‘At the turn of the 20th century, Paris became an important commercial centre for Islamic artworks. The Constitutional Revolution in Iran (1905 – 1911) and later the fragmentation of the Ottoman Empire, led to the arrival of masterpieces of Islamic art in Paris,’ he says, emphasising that the historical context is essentially intertwined in Cartier’s story.

‘At the same time, the study of Islamic art was emerging as an academic discipline in Europe, and exhibitions dedicated to Islamic art were organised in that respect: in 1903 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and in 1910 in Munich, the latter being the culmination, with its pure scenography and artworks organised by geographical regions.’

These cultural events had a lasting impact on the brothers, and the designers and studios to which they turned for inspiration are explored in the first part of the exhibition, while the forms inspired by Islamic art are the focus of the second part. Louis Cartier’s personal interest in the genre has been reconstructed with assistance from the house of Cartier’s archives, with several of his artworks and books reunited here for the first time. For Jacques Cartier meanwhile, his love of travel is explored in the treasures he came across in places including India, which he first visited in 1911; such trips enabled him to build relationships with maharajahs and collect antique and contemporary jewellery.

‘Louis Cartier amassed an eclectic private collection, as we know from the sales held after his death,’ says Rainero. ‘He was a curious and scholarly man of taste with wide-ranging interests recalling those of the Renaissance collector or honnête homme of the 18th century. The items in Louis Cartier’s collection appear to have served three different purposes: to satisfy his personal pleasure; to inspire his designers (as with the library he assembled for their use); and, when added to the Maison Cartier’s stock of apprêts [fragments from disassembled jewellery and other objects], to serve as primary components for new designs. What we can note above all, is that Louis Cartier made the pieces of his collection available to the designers, as the photographs found in [one of the maison’s designers] Charles Jacqueau’s archives attest. For instance, photographs of two pen boxes, from Louis Cartier’s personal collection, were found in Jacqueau’s archives, probably as a source of inspiration.’

Jacques Cartier’s travels

Cartier’s design team were inspired by the treasures Jacques Cartier brought back from his travels in India and Bahrain in 1911 and 1912, with a wealth of materials including stones, Indian jewels and precious objects added to Cartier’s stock. The pieces were then subjected to Louis Cartier’s style-conscious eye in Paris. ‘These artefacts, purchased by the maison either on site or from merchants based in Paris mostly, could be included into new creations, becoming their major component in the design, or be used as an inspiration,’ says Rainero. ‘Jacques Cartier collected Mughal and contemporary jewels and precious objects, carved stones, and also photographs that he took himself or albums he bought, recording, for instance the Delhi Durbar.’

‘The account books from Jacques Cartier’s trips to India record his first acquisitions from local dealers of jewellery. It was certainly no coincidence that in the three months preceding his return to Europe, an “Oriental” stock was created in Paris.’ Rainero cites a bowl in smoky topaz as being included in the list of purchases made by Jacques Cartier in Agra on 22 February 1912, and the exhibition he organised upon his return from India, ‘Oriental Jewels and Objets d’Art Recently Collected in India’, at the London Cartier boutique, as examples of the great influence his travels held. ‘This exhibition toured the following year in Paris, then Boston and New York. Thanks to an in-depth study of archival photographs, the curators nearly pieced together the selection presented at the boutique on Rue de La Paix in 1913. The bowl in smoky topaz was part of it.’

The challenges for the curators

‘Apart from the inherent difficulty to all exhibitions in getting the approval of the lenders, this work was for the curators like an archeological excavation,’ Rainero tells us of Cartier’s new Paris exhibition. ‘It was an exciting investigation full of surprises and discoveries. They led a tremendous in-depth work into the Cartier archives, those of the Petit Palais-Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris and private archives, which was a first. The challenge was, in particular, to identify the sources of inspiration of Cartier creations, locate Islamic artworks from Louis Cartier’s personal collection, as well as to identify the Islamic pieces and documents that Louis Cartier and his designers may have seen.’

The curators worked to illustrate the links between the origins of Islamic art and the pieces that inspired it in the exhibition by tracing the sources of Cartier’s inspirations to the wealth of material Louis Cartier would have come across. As well as his personal library and Islamic artworks from his private collection, curators also explored Islamic artworks that were on display in Paris museums such as the Musée de Cluny and Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in a bid to present as complete a picture as possible.

‘This identification was made possible thanks to the analysis of the designs kept in Cartier archives,’ Rainero explains. ‘This large collection of designs, studies and sketches is key to understanding the link between the Cartier creations and their source of inspiration.

‘The curators also identified a lexicon of Islamic shapes that inspired Cartier. In the second section of the exhibition, this lexicon is illustrated with a dialogue between Cartier creations and Islamic artworks from the Louvre and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs collections (some of them were part of the first exhibitions dedicated to Islamic art).

‘The curators show that architecture, book bindings, and textiles were among the primary sources of inspiration that gave birth to characteristic motifs at Cartier – stepped merlons, finials, scrolls, cypress, boteh – according to which the pieces are organised in this second section of the exhibition.’

The Cartier exhibition at Musée des Arts Décoratifs

The exhibition itself nods to the Musée des Arts Décoratifs’ original philosophy of showing the work of different artists in applied arts, to inspire and to educate. The exhibition held there in 1903 about Islamic art was the starting point for this new one, which comes full circle in acknowledging the role the museum had in influencing Cartier at the beginning of the 20th century.

These historical references are intertwined with interactive digital technologies for an innovative multimedia experience. ‘Elizabeth Diller from DS+R was chosen to design the exhibition because of her very clever approach,’ says Rainero. ‘Her vision in terms of scenography was to focus on the works themselves. She understood that the link between Islamic art and Cartier went far beyond the context of curiosity for the Orient that was reigning in the Western world at that time. She analysed that link with a lot of depth and seriousness, and the result in terms of scenography is outstanding and very much linked to the spirit, and the main idea behind this exhibition.’

Digital animations on large screens in the nave add another dimension to the exhibition, showing visitors in 3D both the inspiration behind the pieces and the technical approach of the jewels. ‘These animations show the specific skills required to make a jewel, which is articulated and adapted to the movements of the wearer,’ adds Rainero. ‘Besides the inspiration which can be understood in 2D, the 3D animations remind us of the initial vocation of a jewel, which is to be worn.’

Ultimately, the exhibition celebrates the connection between Islamic art and Cartier, which is just as strong today, with a close study of the familiar geometric silhouettes. They are seen in both the iconic jewellery designs and in the arresting design of the exhibition itself.

Rainero acknowledges the importance of this graphic identity: ‘In Louis Cartier’s time, a study of geometry, abstraction and its infinite interplay between patterns and light was carried out. This very marked change of creative direction began as early as 1904, immediately after the “Exposition des arts musulmans” held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and 20 years before the famous “Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes”, held in Paris in 1925. This is how Cartier gained its reputation as a true pioneer of new shapes. So very early on, by the beginning of the 20th century, we witnessed a silent inclusion of a new vocabulary of shapes and colours, in a corpus that was already well established at Cartier.’

Rainero points out it is a vocabulary that continues to grow today, with the rich geometric shapes brought to life in individual and contemporary jewellery pieces. Empty space is given an importance akin to that of the strong shapes and clean lines, with shadow lines playing with and creating patterns. ‘The effect is similar to that of the mashrabiya, which sculpts light in the same way as Cartier does with diamond-pavéd motifs,’ he says. ‘Over time, these elements – the geometry, the infinite interplay between patterns, the openwork settings playing with light, the colour combinations – are detached from their original context, yet persist as a recognition of their enduring relevance.

INFORMATION
‘Cartier and Islamic Art: In Search of Modernity’ runs 21 October 2021 – 20 February 20 2022, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and is co-organised by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and the Dallas Museum of Art, with the exceptional collaboration of the Musée du Louvre and the support of Cartier.

madparis.fr

Cartier Pasha de Cartier watch in steel with chronograph mechanical movement, £8,350, cartier.com

Cartier

The hypnotising circles that make up the Pasha de Cartier collection nod to the distinctive design of the original 1980s pieces, here rethought in stainless steel. Technically accomplished and athletically inclined, the rotating bezel and sprinkling of blue cabochon gemstones recall the traditional aesthetics of a diver’s sporty watch.

Hermès

Hermès Carré H watch on a natural Barenia calf strap, £5,770, hermes.com

The Carré H, created by furniture designer Marc Berthier in 2010, brings an architectural sensibility to the traditional curves of a classic watch face. Here, understated sporty touches are glimpsed in both the utilitarian forms of the numerals and in the natural Barenia calf of the refined strap.

Bell & Ross

Bell & Ross BR 05 GMT with integrated steel bracelet, £4,500, bellross.com

Bell & Ross has put functionality at the heart of its aviation-inspired watches since the brand’s inception in the early 1990s. This new piece stays faithful to the company’s established design codes – the square case and luminescent details are present and correct – but a stripped-back aesthetic and cool steel hues lend a modern edge of sports luxe.

Tag Heuer

Tag Heuer Carrera with steel bracelet, £2,400, tagheuer.com

The Carrera has epitomised classic motorsport design since its release half a century ago, and this new addition to the collection builds on this minimalist heritage with its clean dial and gleaming body of polished stainless steel. A streamlined silhouette brings an elegance to a traditionally sporty piece, with pared-back lugs ensuring a fluid loop between the case and strap.

Omega

Omega Speedmaster Chronoscope, Co-Axial Master Chronometer, £7,410, omegawatches.com

Among those looking for new watches for men, athletes or those are partial to a punt at a new personal best will appreciate the technically savvy timings of the new vintage-inspired Omega Speedmaster. The loops and whorls of the dial reveal three different measuring functions, from the tachymetre measuring speed, to the pulsometer recording your pulse, and a telemeter, which lets you know how far away you are from an event.

Blancpain

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe in titanium, £9,600, blancpain.com

Blancpain’s diver’s watch collection, the Bathyscaphe, has been rethought in tough titanium, a material the brand originally used in a series of special models produced for the US Navy bomb disposal teams in the 1960s. Here, the satin-finished titanium makes a sleek foil for the Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe’s anthracite-coloured dial.

INFORMATION

A version of this article appears in the December 2021 issue of Wallpaper* (W*272), on newsstands and available to subscribers.

Bring an offbeat elegance to the sharp silhouette of a suit with one of these brooches. Vintage and traditional designs, when intertwined with contemporary references, make for a very modern wedding. Playful placements can bring new life to a heritage piece; a bow-tie, when drawn in platinum and tourmaline and pinned in place, brings a mischievous modernity to a Cartier clip dating from the 1940s.

Other pieces make arresting adornments with colour contrasts; the cool blue of a 1930s Raymond Yard brooch, which fringes an aquamarine in opals and diamonds, is brought to life against the dark lapel of a Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello jacket, while lustrous Mikimoto pearls suspended from their white gold branches are coolly current when juxtaposed against Dunhill polka dots.

A hidden functionality in Boucheron’s ‘Serpent Bohème’ brooch adds a pleasing wearability: swing the diamond-studded teardrop pendant from a long necklace or wear alone on its rose gold pin to add a glittering minimalism to your wedding day wardrobe.

When worn with the sleek lines of a Celine Homme by Hedi Slimane jacket and shirt, its diamond form pops.

For further wedding inspiration, let us introduce Weddingpaper*, Wallpaper’s first dip into nuptial nirvana, as seen in the October 2021, 25th Anniversary Issue and coming to Wallpaper.com throughout this week. Forget the conventional and the staid; here, tradition comes with a twist and frou frou frills with a velvet blue mule.

Whether it’s pairing the cool metal hues of a rose gold wristwatch with the billowing folds of an In-Grid Bride gown, or juxtaposing a luminescent Mikimoto pearl brooch against the mischievous polka dots of a Dunhill shirt, brides and grooms are sure to find something style wise to love. Wedding guests, too, take note: our chic and sculptural guide to timeless gifting puts the days of mismatched china long behind us, making for a very modern take on wedded bliss.

INFORMATION

A version of this article appears in the October 2021, 25th Anniversary Issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands and available to subscribers, – 12 digital issues for $12/£12/€12.

The American Museum of Natural History is marking the opening of the redesigned Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals with a new exhibition. Beautiful Creatures, curated by jewellery historian Marion Fasel, looks at how animals have inspired jewellers, from Cartier’s panthers to Boucheron’s 19th century stag beetle brooch.

Fasel’s curation encompasses contemporary jewellery dating from the last 150 years, in line with the museum’s recent celebration of their 150 year anniversary. Her criteria for inclusion ensures an eclectic selection: ‘All the animals included had to be full-bodied and appear somewhere in the museum,’ she says. ‘There are no barnyard or domestic animals or animals dressed as people, which is a whimsical subgenre of animal jewellery.’

Fasel was also keen to include jewellery which revealed its context, looking at what the jewellery can tell us about the wider world. ‘Perhaps most important of all, every jewel had to reflect a cultural tide, historical event, gem discovery or advancement in jewellery technology. For example, the wings on the dragonfly designed by Julia Munson under the direction of Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1904 is a virtuoso display of early platinum work in jewelry. The birds made by French jewellers during the World War II occupation of Paris were symbols of hope and freedom. Fish brooches created from the Twenties through the 1950s by American jewellers reflected the popularity of the sport.’

Pieces by Bulgari and Van Cleef & Arpels join more contemporary designers such as Bina Goenka in the exhibition which marks the opening of the new space. Alongside the temporary exhibition gallery, it will also encompass a gallery of gems including the magnificent 563-carat ‘Star of India’ sapphire and new pieces such as the two of the largest amethyst geodes which are on display.

Exhibitions will explore how the conditions of our planet have enabled such a vast array of mineral species - it is fitting, therefore, that Fasel’s preoccupation with the natural world is the first at the temporary exhibition space, a fascination she shares with the jewellers. ‘The insects act as a canvas for artistic expression,’ she says. ‘Looking at a kaleidoscope of butterfly jewels, all designs within essentially the same outline, beautifully demonstrate how jewellery techniques and the style for and available supply of gemstones have evolved.’ 

INFORMATION
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For Cartier, the Privé collection is a chance to revisit classic watch design and unusual models from the past. Now, the Cartier Privé Cloche de Cartier joins the Tank Asymétrique, Crash, Cintrée and Tonneau as the latest collection to be given a contemporary rethink. Unveiled this month alongside the Tank Must, Pasha and Ballon Bleu as part of Cartier’s 2021 watch launches, it blends the classic and contemporary in one subversive design.

First appearing in 1920, it was originally designed as a watch to be worn on the lapel as a brooch, its unusual silhouette reminiscent of a service bell when placed horizontally.

‘Like many other Cartier watch creations, such as the Baignoire, Tank or Tortue, the Cloche is named after its shape,’ explains director of image, style and heritage at Cartier International, Pierre Rainero. A lesson in design, it neatly combines both the rectangular and the round shape. ‘The Cloche de Cartier perfectly illustrates the Maison’s approach to shape, how it is considered for its aesthetic whilst exploring all possible evocations. It highlights the Maison’s talent at playing with simple shapes and revealing their aesthetic potential.’

Offbeat design ticks make for an elegant functionality - the watch, when placed flat and vertically, stands alone as a chic desk clock. ‘These six new models feature some of Cartier’s strong watchmaking codes,’ adds Rainero. ‘The ‘rail track’ and hour markings have been adapted to the dial’s asymmetrical shape, and the crown is beaded with a cabochon – a distinctive jewellery signature of the Maison.’

The new models come in two versions, with a classic version in pink gold, yellow gold or platinum staying faithful to the original, and a technically accomplished skeleton version, its openworked dial requiring an intricate reworking of the movement within.

INFORMATION

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‘Our pieces are marked by a purity of line, a precision of form and precious details,’ says Arnaud Carrez, head of international marketing and communications, Cartier International, on the new campaign devoted to the maison’s iconic designs. ‘We wanted to celebrate them all together and show what they have in common.’

Cartier is shining the spotlight on classic collections from the last century, with the Santos, Tank, Trinity, Love, Juste Un Clou, Panthère and Ballon Bleu all celebrated as a lesson in lasting design.

The pieces are significant in acting as cultural markers, their designs reflecting the mood of the generation in which they were created. ‘It’s quite difficult to date a Cartier watch,’ Carrez adds. ‘Look at the Tank, dating from the beginning of the twentieth century, which is equally as contemporary as today’s version. First and foremost we respect our dynamic heritage, constantly enriching it by expanding it and pushing boundaries. We ensure all our creations transcend time. It is a challenge to reinvent and reinterpret a new collection – sometimes we say it is more challenging than creating a new design.’

A Cartier design is characterised by its simple lines and plays on geometry, seen in the gentle curve of the Love bracelet or in the depth of the Santos case. Stringent proportions ensure a piece is comfortable to wear. ‘Our pieces cater to all generations,’ says Carrez. ‘In the current climate, they can bring reassurance.’

Alongside the classic collections, Cartier will be releasing a new limited edition Tank Cintrée, three years after its relaunch (pictured below).

INFORMATION

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Louis Cartier’s gently subversive designs of the early 20th century added an innovative edge to classic watch design codes. Famed for designing the ‘Santos’ – reportedly at the request of French aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, who wanted a timepiece for his wrist to leave his hands free in the cockpit – Louis was perpetually quick to tap into the zeitgeist.

The original ‘Tank’ watch was designed by Cartier in 1917 in response to the First World War. The angled architecture of the armoured vehicles used on the Western Front became the sharp silhouette of the ‘Tank’ case, a rare rectangle when watches were typically round. Two decades later, the ‘Tank Asymétrique’ built on this original design with a mischievous tweak. All components of the watch now shifted 30 degrees to the right, purportedly because the angle made the time easier to view when you raised your wrist, putting functionality at the heart of the dress watch.

Last year, Cartier re-released the ‘Tank Asymétrique’ as part of its Privé collection, which reworks its classic watch collections for a new generation. The face of the reworked model nods to the original 1936 design with Arabic numerals (a rare stylistic device for Cartier), but their elongated serif forms add a more modern take to the rounded curves of the original font. Three new versions, in yellow gold, rose gold and platinum, imbue this rich design heritage with a contemporary twist. 

INFORMATION

This article appears in the February 2021 issue of Wallpaper* (W*262) – download the latest issue here

Cartier has long been fascinated with the quotidian, creating functional items – fragrance bottles, powder compacts, inkwells, stationery – since the late 19th century. In keeping with Cartier design codes, they put an ornamental spin on the purely functional, making for chic objets in their own right.

‘Since 1880, Cartier has been interested in everyday objects,’ says Pierre Rainero, director of Image, Style and Heritage at Cartier International. ‘In 1925, with the creation of the S for Silver department, entrusted to Jeanne Toussaint, Cartier developed more accessible accessories and objects. These practical, playful, joyful and elegant items were perfectly in tune with the celebratory spirit and chic portability of the Café Society in the 1930s. The materials used to create these precious wood, porcelain or enamel objects met the criteria of elegance and durability, with today’s collections continuing the Cartier tradition,’ he adds.

In the post-war period of the 1920s, these more accessible items, including a gold pocket corkscrew and a silver cocktail shaker with hidden cocktail recipes, were enhanced with precious metals and sculpted silhouettes.

It is a philosophy reflected in this new collection composed of useful everyday items given a precious twist. A stamp, a tea box, stationery and Christmas decorations incorporate the tradition of skilled artistry which lays at the heart of both the jewellery and homeware, putting an elegant spin on the everyday.

INFORMATION
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Sleek, sensuous and fierce, panthers have prowled their way around Cartier’s designs for over a century. Ebony spots and a diamond hide were first glimpsed on a wristwatch in 1914; three years later, Louis Cartier’s gift to director of jewellery, and his lover, Jeanne Toussaint, was a panther depicted on a diamond, onyx and platinum cigarette case. Toussaint – affectionately nicknamed La Panthère – was enamoured with the creature and it became a familiar motif in Cartier’s jewellery over the subsequent decades.

Now, Cartier revisits this rich history, and the spectacular new high jewellery collection unveiled this month rethinks familiar symbols. The Panthère Tropical watch bracelet pays tribute to Toussaint’s love of brilliantly bold colour combinations, nodding to her designs in the Thirties which laced the panther’s spots in vivid coral. This new piece takes these juxtapositions further, adding an amalgamation of tourmaline and aquamarine into the mix.

‘Introducing a camaïeu colour play of blue with the tourmalines and the aquamarines is an entirely new colour combination for the Maison,’ says Pierre Rainero, director of image, style and heritage at Cartier International. ‘This new panther iteration is very soft and feminine through the use of materials, evoking the strength of the panther at the same time.’

The hybrid mix of colours and textures is an unparalleled technical accomplishment; the coral alone is notoriously fragile, its tremendous size increasing the risk of it cracking under the gem-cutter’s hands. Its inclusion is typical of a Maison whose risk-taking in the past has defined a wholly new set of graphic jewellery codes. ‘This piece is emblematic of Cartier in its style: how different stones and shapes are pieced together without any metal assembling or paved diamonds. It is a real Cartier signature in terms of volume,’ says Rainero.

INFORMATION

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A large collection of Cartier clocks will be going up for auction as part of Christie’s online sale running next month. ‘101 Cartier Clocks’ is a collection created over three decades and spans over 80 years of clockmaking at Cartier, tracing the progression from Belle Epoque to Art Deco to pieces dating from the 1950s.

‘This is the only collection of its type in the world, collected over three decades with passion, knowledge and the desire to possess the best that Cartier’s clock workshop has ever produced,’ says Marie-Cecile Cisamolo, jewellery specialist at Christie’s. ‘I do not believe that such a collection will ever be formed again – and how timely it comes to the market now, when time has received a new meaning to many of us and we might start looking at it differently.’

The collection is testament to Cartier’s originality and skill evident at the beginning of the 20th century when Louis Cartier collaborated with master clockmaker Maurice Coüet. Coüet, inspired by the magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, created the technologically groundbreaking Mystery clocks, which hid their mechanisms in the frame and appeared to run as if by magic.

Other pieces, such as the planet clocks dating from 1912, also assimilated magical elements. By superimposing dials – with the lower dials usually in blue enamel and constantly rotating – they depicted not only the passing of time but also, in some pieces, a diamond-encrusted crescent moon or a comet rotating within the dial.

‘These clocks were made in several materials, like nephrite, agate, onyx and even rutilated quartz, to show the great variety and artistry of this period of time,’ says Cisamolo. ‘The colours (red, blue, black) as well as the shaped corners (called ‘japanese corners’) are often to be found and indicate the strong Asian influence in Cartier’s designs in the 1920s.’

INFORMATION

‘101 Cartier Clocks’, 7 – 21 July. christies.com