Paris is a place of beauty both old and new. Walking around the city, its varied architecture is often the first thing that imparts this sense. The unmissable Eiffel Tower, reviled at first then considered an icon; the grandness of the Second Empire, seen in masterpiece monuments like the Opéra Garnier; the Louvre palace, with added wings and features in a range of styles such as Gothic, neoclassical and modern. It is little wonder, then, that this influence extends to a quintessentially Parisian house like Boucheron, a maison founded in 1858 and the first jeweller to set up on Place Vendôme—and its Quatre collection of jewellery.
When the jewellery maison introduced the Quatre ring in 2004, it was a modern icon of unexpected combinations. The design is defined by four motifs, each of them rich with symbolism and story, pressed together and joined. There is a line of architectural Clou de Paris studs inspired by the city’s cobblestones. A fluted grosgrain band recalls the textile and couture heritage so intrinsic to Paris. A double-godron can trace its origins to a long history of French decorative arts. And a line of diamonds, so simple yet effective, expresses the jeweller’s métier.
After celebrating its second decade last year, Boucheron’s creative director Claire Choisne is continuing to evolve and expand the universe of the Quatre collection. This year, the house is introducing a new line called the Quatre Tube that is reminiscent of one of Paris’s architectural icons.
The Quatre Tube is, in a word, pure. Its design sublimates the signature four-band ring from a discrete, distinct object into a graphic motif that has travelled along smooth, round tubes of polished yellow gold. The result is that the Quatre motif becomes a new kind of decoration, an accent that has moved across the body.
One of the centrepiece designs in this new line is an of-the-moment torque necklace, crafted with an oversized tube of gold. A single Quatre motif sits front and centre, doubling as a hidden clasp so that the necklace’s line of gold is unbroken.
As for its architectural mirror, that may be the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The arts and culture building complex was a grand idea that united the literary, musical and cultural heritages of Paris in one place—wrapped up in a bold postmodern facade with exposed tubes.
Creative director Choisne has, in fact, collaborated with the Pompidou-housed centre for musical and acoustic research before on the Quatre 5D Memory ring, an avant-garde jewel that is encapsulated with audio information. As it was with the Beaubourg, so it is with the Quatre Tube: a pure, striking modernity that simultaneously contrasts and complements classical Paris.
Photography Darren Gabriel Leow
Styling Bryan Ho and Nicholas See
Hair Ken Hong
Make-up Wee Ming, using Dior Beauty
Manicure Felicia Widjaya
Stylists’ assistant Naina Goenka
Model Juliette Z/Mannequin
The May 2025 ‘Sonder’ issue of Vogue Singapore is available to pre-order online.
