Out of the woods: the natural wonder of Piaget’s marquetry jewels

For the past three years, the various characters of sunlight, from high summer’s desert-red to winter’s pearly grey, have been the creative driver behind Piaget’s high jewellery collections. This month, the Swiss marque’s ‘Sunlight Escape’ chapter revels in frozen landscapes and the clear, moonlit nights that provide a natural backdrop for the Aurora Borealis.

The diffused greens and blues that shimmer across Northern skies are represented in Rose Saneuil’s mesmerising marquetry work on the ‘Green Aurora’ cuff and accompanying marquetry earrings. Her sense of subtle colour is immaculately conveyed in extra-fine slivers of straw, and sycamore and hornbeam woods.

Saneuil’s process involves cutting out veneers, then fitting them into the design form, a technique she refers to as “element by element”. When the straw and wood is set, they are sanded and varnished in a particular style.

Though Saneuil has previously created dial designs for Piaget, they were produced on a flat surface. For the Aurora pieces, she had to painstakingly develop her already exceptional skill to create the curved surfaces that give the jewels their rich, sensual form.