Dior’s new watch and jewellery collection: bold colour and fluid design

Dior’s new watch and jewellery collection: bold colour and fluid design

Seven watches and eleven pieces of jewellery make up the Gem Dior collection from creative director of Dior Joaillerie, Victoire de Castellane

The new Gem Dior collection from Dior Joaillerie casts artfully unordered silhouettes in ribbons of precious metals and bright gems. Creative director of Dior Joaillerie, Victoire de Castellane, has drawn on the house’s history for the fine jewellery and watch collection.

The seven watches and eleven pieces of jewellery are cast in vivid colours inspired by the bold hues of precious minerals. ‘For me, colour in jewellery is very important and I adore using all the stones and colours,’ says de Castellane. ‘For this collection I have used malachite, lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl and cornaline. There also is some pink opal and tiger’s eye. I have selected stones and coloramas according to what I have found quite naturally. With the colour groups, I played on a multicolor effect but I also thought about colour shadings.’

Colour ripples through both the jewellery and watches in the collection. In the articulated cuff of a yellow gold watch, the bracelet looks back to Christian Dior’s habit of pinning haute couture fabric swatches onto sheets of paper in its blocks of vivid hues. It is a fluidity reflected in the jewellery, where links in rings and bracelets are casually placed and gemstones and diamonds appear to undulate on loops of gold.

The designs were brought to life in Parisian workshops, where the complex requirements of the watch’s bracelet were teased out: ‘When the bracelet is unfolded, everything really must be in balance. For some models, the entire bracelet is composed of offset ornamental stones arranged in succession like strata. All the sides are asymmetrical like they are in nature. It’s a play on a succession of different colour effects.’

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The watch juxtaposes a cuff bracelet of malachite, lapis lazuli, carnelian, pink opal and tiger’s eye against an octagonal case and malachite dial for a piece which unites horology with traditional jewellery techniques. ‘To me there is no difference between designing a watch or jewel, I always create very freely. To me a watch is a jewel that gives time,’ adds de Castellane. §

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Dior’s Victoire de Castellane reshapes women’s watch design with new high jewellery collection

Maker of a masterpiece

For internationally acclaimed, Paris-based Victoire de Castellane, the Gem Dior range is but the latest feather in a storied cap. She came to prominence designing costume jewellery for Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel before launching Dior’s fine jewellery division – which she heads – more than two decades ago.

Victoire de Castellane: “I think that when you love something, you wear it well.”

Born into a French aristocratic family, de Castellane is renowned for her creative feistiness and love of colour and asymmetric forms. Her personal creations have been presented at galleries in London and New York. She spoke via video to watch editor Bani McSpedden.

Is the creative process of designing watches very different to that for designing jewellery?

When I’m designing a watch, I always think that it’s a piece of jewellery. The difference is only because it’s showing the time. Everybody today has this on their mobile, so for me, what’s important is to create an object, a very interesting object, that gives the time.

Do you sit down with a pad and pencil, or do you go straight to a computer? How does it happen for you?

None of that! I have the idea in my head, and I see it like a flash, and I imagine how I’m going to introduce it to my team. Sometimes I make a little sketch, but it’s not like I am at my desk and I’m designing like that for one hour. It’s something very quick.

I also use words to explain exactly what I want. And then I’m following all the steps of the fabrication, of the development. But the idea is one minute, then two years of fabrication.

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What was the idea behind the Gem Dior collection?

The inspiration came from nature, and also from couture. From nature, I saw the shape, a very nice shape for the case. And the couture inspiration came from little irregular samples of fabrics that Monsieur Dior worked with – that inspired the bracelets. I loved they were not regular.

Was there a moment where you thought you would do a traditional watchband, or was it always going to be this rather unusual configuration?

I started with a normal bracelet, but it has to be very original by itself, very special, and fit with this case. You have to think of the next step and the question was what happens when you do it in the metal.

Was this – and the shape of the case – a challenge for the makers given they’re used to producing something very symmetrical?

It’s always a challenge! Everything is a challenge, but we are used to working with a very good workshop. Voila. We challenge them, and we always find a way to do it well. It’s part of the complexity of the process with people who are very passionate. For me, what is very important when I’m doing something asymmetrical is to find a balance, create a design that’s well-balanced.

The making of the most colourful Gem Dior watch, worn by de Castellane; yellow gold with gemstones, its octagonal case set with turquoise and two carats of diamonds framing a malachite dial.

Do you envisage the octagonal case being with us for a long time or is this more of a seasonal range of watches?

No, no, no. It took too long to make it happen! For me, it’s the beginning of a classical Dior watch [line].

For some people, stones – malachite, onyx – have a meaning. Do they to you? For some people, yes … for me, not really. What I love is only the emotion that I feel when I see stones, the colour, the design, and voila. But I don’t imagine something more or magical.

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When designing the watches, who did you envisage them appealing to?

I don’t like to imagine them in categories. I prefer to imagine the watch only on people who love it. Because for me jewellery or a watch has to be something you love and love wearing. I think that when you love something, you wear it well.

Today, people are much more “decomplexed”, a lot less shy than before. Men are really getting into wearing jewellery … even pieces of jewellery that were really a symbol of feminism. They don’t mind that side of the piece.

Will we see an expansion of the Gem Dior range given the scope to accommodate different materials within this format?

Exactly. What I love is finding something and developing it in a lot of different families. And, most importantly for me, making something good, creating something that I like for a long time. Maybe one time, we will do one in opal … an Australian homage.

(This shouldn’t entirely surprise. In the publication Dior Joaillerie: The A to Z of Victoire de Castellane released last year, de Castellane nominates the multicoloured mineraloid as her favourite, describing it as “every stone in one stone.” Perfect then for presenting in a petite octagonal frame – BMcS.)

The May issue of AFR Magazine, including the Philanthropy 50 list and women’s watch special, is out on Friday, April 30 inside The Australian Financial Review. Follow AFR Mag on Twitter and Instagram.