In full colour: Dior’s Gem Dior watch
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Victoire de Castellane’s palette is precious. When sketching small treasures at her Paris atelier, the artistic director of Dior Joaillerie paints with rare gems. “For me, colour in jewellery is very important and I adore using all the stones,” de Castellane tells me when I ask to describe her latest offering. “For this collection, I used malachite, lapis lazuli, mother-of-pearl and carnelian. There is some pink opal and tiger’s eye.”
Unveiled this spring, the French tastemaker’s new Gem Dior creations count 11 pieces of jewellery (among them a pink gold and diamond ring and a yellow gold bracelet finessed with lapis lazuli, malachite and seafoam green chrysoprase) and seven exquisite wristwatches. In name, de Castellane’s latest work nods to her landmark Gem Dior high jewellery collection debuted two years ago, a body of work that she has since summed up as “abstract-organic” and “not figurative” in style.
With Gem Dior, de Castellane celebrates the noblesse of her materials; here, chance and the non-ordered appeal – in the designer’s words, it’s an “organised disruption”. When it came to first naming her designs, the word “gem” was chosen in euphonious homage to the French ‘J’aime’, for “I love”. And there is much to be enamoured with here.
Taking its design cues from nature and Parisian haute couture – at Dior, both have been passion points since the house’s founding in 1947 – a new Gem Dior watch artfully clashes lapis-lazuli, tiger’s eye, turquoise, carnelian and blush pink mother-of-pearl, all set in asymmetrical yellow gold links which make up a fully articulated bracelet.
When first drafting the unusual, collage-like bracelet, de Castellane recalled images of Monsieur Dior pinning fabric swatches to paper, in preparation of his fittings. Sans clasp, the timepiece has been engineered to be worn as one would an open cuff. In shape, an octagonal case owes to the natural shape of mineral formations and frames a cut of textured deep-green malachite with a yellow gold bezel dazzling with diamonds and a turquoise insert. De Castellane may well be watchmaking’s brightest colourist.
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This story first appeared in the May 5 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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. §