How do you combine over a century and a half’s worth of history and heritage into a design that captures both the moment and the future? That’s a question you could well pose to the Parisian high jewellery maison Boucheron, which did exactly that back in 2004 when it introduced its Quatre collection.
Quatre, simply French for ‘four’, is a sublimation of house codes pieced together in an ingenious way. The design is made up of four distinct bands of gold, weighing no less than 13.88 grams total, each crafted and finished differently. One end is framed by a fluted grosgrain pattern that evokes the ribbed texture of silk ribbons. Couture-inspired details and designs are a rich part of Boucheron’s archives thanks to its founder’s legacy as the son of a draper.
Next to the grosgrain, a band of diamonds that’s a testament to Boucheron’s innovation. The house invented a host of gem setting techniques, and the one deployed in the Quatre is the mirror setting in which the gold base and prongs which affix the diamonds are mirror-polished to reflect light aplenty. Beside the diamonds, a line of faceted square motifs known as Clou de Paris that evokes the cobblestones of the City of Lights. First introduced in 1911, this sculptural treatment of gold is PVD-coated to add a lustrous burst of colour.
Lastly, Quatre designs are capped by a double godron of two rings seamlessly joined together. The technique was introduced at Boucheron in the 1860s, and is meant to symbolise binding love and union. The four distinct parts of the Quatre are joined with an extraordinary level of savoir faire. There is no soldering or glueing involved. Instead, the bands are pressed together until a soft ‘click’ indicates that a new whole has been made.
While it began with a ring, the Quatre collection has grown over 20 years to become an icon of stylistic freedom at Boucheron. The collection today is made up of seven ‘editions’. There are lines which swap the brown PVD-coated gold on the Clou de Paris band out for vivid, lustrous Hyceram (a high-tech ceramic material) in colours like red, white and blue. The Quatre design has also been translated into pendant and tie necklaces, hoop earrings and ear cuffs, and even hair jewellery.
This year, the Parisian house is introducing a range of Quatre novelties that take its core ideas even further. One of these is expansion, where the Classique ring is enlarged to yield a range of bracelets. These come in two sizes, with the option of either the full four-band design, or a simplified version dubbed 2-Code with just the Clou de Paris and double godron bands. There’s also a wire-style bracelet, crafted with a blend of titanium for lightness and flexibility, with two mini Quatre motifs on its ends.
Boucheron has also unfurled and freed the Quatre from its fixed shape as a ring. A new ‘ribbon’ design recreates the four-band motif through hundreds of parts that are assembled and linked by hand. This movement, flow and articulation is applied to seven different pieces: two necklaces, a belt, three bracelets and a hair jewel.
Because it is a momentous anniversary, the maison took the opportunity to go a little wild with its interpretations of the design. There are new necklaces and body jewellery in which the four-band motif isn’t simply expanded or articulated, but instead repeated ad infinitum to create an unmissable graphic repeating pattern. The necklaces string together 50 Quatre rings, while the body jewellery combines a whopping 315 into an armour-like form.
But there is a trio of pieces that is perhaps the Quatre collection’s most precious yet. A ring, bracelet and choker necklace are intensely gem-set to recreate the Classique configuration. The grosgrain and double godron bands are now fully set with yellow sapphires and spessartite garnets respectively. The challenge, which took Boucheron’s gemstones department years to surmount, was to source sapphires and garnets that are identical in colour. Only when they are perfectly matched in shade and intensity do they mirror and elevate the original uniformity of the bands of gold. It’s a new form, but distinctly and surely Quatre—a testament to this collection’s place as a modern jewellery icon.
Photography Zantz Han
Styling Nicholas See
Hair Christvian Wu
Make-up Victoria Hwang/The Suburbs Studio
Nails Ann Lim
Model An Ning/Mannequin
Photography Assistant Dennis Er
Styling Assistant Lance Aeron Pielago
