Nature’s Folio: The Boucheron Untamed Nature High Jewellery Collection

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Boucheron Histoire de Style High Jewellery offering will contain artistically ambitious jewels in the transformative spirit of multi-wear. The mystery comes in the form of a heritage theme, chosen by Creative Director Claire Choisne to spotlight the Maison’s past and shape the future of its impeccable output. In 2025, we are graced with Untamed Nature – a collection that unfurls like the pages in a naturalist’s sketchbook, filled with three-dimensional sketches of blossoms, blooms and insects. Be prepared to feel transported to the French countryside, somewhere in the 19th century, armed with only a graphite pencil and the very earliest monochrome camera…

The first thing that struck me about the Boucheron Untamed Nature High Jewellery collection was its photography, which is almost exclusively captured in shades of black and white. The results are transportive to the time of Frédéric Boucheron (1830-1902), who channelled his own passion for the natural world into his eponymous Maison and its now recurring motifs. Pieces in the new Untamed Nature offering are simplified through a palette of diamonds and white gold. However, don’t let this fool you; there’s nothing simple about the drapes of ivy leaves that swing across the neck or the encrusted reeds that sweep over the ear into the hairline. The collection contains 28 pieces, each one designed to be worn in innovative ways. The Oat head jewel, for example, is pictured poking out of a tightly wound hair bun, while the Lierre (Ivy) bodice train is shaped to follow the contours of the upper body. As has become a tradition for Boucheron, the pieces are photographed on both male and female models, almost as if they have become one with the living tendrils of plants.

The flora on display here is recognisable to even the amateur botanist. Although Frédéric Boucheron likely had the means to secure more exotic specimens, his personal tastes were more modest, including ivy, clover, daisies, wildflowers and thistles, which he studied in minute detail. “The Maison’s archives attest to this pursuit of naturalistic realism,” Choisne explains, “showing wind-swept bent plants, twisted leaves and even wilted flowers.”

Plants is the largest chapter in this high jewellery duology, with insects serving to enhance the naturalistic play of precious metals and diamonds (think a single rock crystal fly landing next to an elaborate rose-inspired necklace). The story starts with Airelles (Lingonberries), inspired by the red berry-strewn shrub of the same name. A necklace can be separated into a cascading brooch with snow-set diamonds and a smaller brooch thanks to articulated stems and fluid petals, which mould themselves to the contours of the body. Each stem boasts a cut-down setting – a technique where pavé diamonds are set on a band of metal of the same width and held in position by tiny claws – underscoring the artisans’ expertise. In total, the Airelles necklace required 3,600 hours of work.

In Avoine (Oat), wind-blown stems of oat grass are transformed into delicate hair jewels (that can also be worn as brooches). Each spikelet is articulated, allowing for a sway of diamonds as the wearer moves. This sense of being captured on a breeze is echoed in the Cyclamen asymmetric earrings, featuring a single bud with 101 rose-cut diamonds in oval, round and soft pear shapes and a leaf-inspired stud.

Other pieces are more opulent, like the Chardon (Thistle) torque-style necklace that sits spikily on the collar bones. The piece is a reinterpretation of an 1878 thistle brooch from the brand’s archives, requiring realism on both the front and reverse sides and a focus on comfort over 1,110 hours of workmanship. The Fuchsia earrings and matching hair jewel/brooch are similarly eye-catching, appearing almost weightless on the body despite being crafted in white gold and diamonds. Boucheron has considered weight in all its pieces, often turning to an openwork framework that trims away metal weight while simultaneously allowing light to enter behind diamonds, adding to their brilliance. The Fuchsia earrings are especially stunning, leading the eye towards a perfectly matched pair of two-carat, D-colour and internally flawless diamonds.

I especially like the Fleur de Carotte (Carrot Flower) brooch that manages to make hard diamonds appear fluffy and cloud-like. We are told that the complexity of this piece lies in the use of three different types of settings and bezel finishes. Elsewhere, there are the Laurel pendant earrings with a slender structure weighing just 19 grams that can be worn in short, mid- and full-length orientations. This is beaten only by the absolute joy of the Roseau (Reed) head jewel, tucked behind the ear of a male model in the brand’s photography, that’s hand-carved in wax, set with oval-cut diamonds and dusted with snow-set stones.

What remains of the Plants chapter is ostentatious and magical. The Lierre (Ivy) suite includes a bracelet, brooch, necklace and bodice train, which can be almost universally transformed into other standalone pieces. The leaves of the brooch are mounted on different-sized tremblers to infuse life and movement into the creation, while the openwork method is used to add lightness and delicacy. The bracelet has a series of articulations, making it more supple than you might expect. In Mauve (Mallow), we can find a bracelet and a pair of asymmetric pendant earrings, the latter of which can be worn in at least four ways and clipped onto the ear cartilage as climbers. Amazingly, the bracelet is so flexible it can be laid completely flat… no wonder it required more than 1,200 hours of work.

Finally, there’s Rosier (Rosebush) – the ‘Queen of Flowers’ in the Boucheron realm. Here, we find rose buds, not blooms, immortalised in multi-wear rings and a question mark necklace with a detachable brooch. To enhance the naturalism, Boucheron’s artisans had to fashion almost 70 different leaves across the entire set, covering them in diamonds for good measure. A gemstone highlight is the 6.01 carat, F-colour, VVS2 clarity pear-shaped diamond, which can appear in the Rosier necklace and as part of a ring surrounded by baguette-cut stones.

Let’s move to chapter two – Insects – incorporating a tightly curated menagerie of beetle, bug and bumblebee brooches and rings. The Scarabée Rhinocéros (Rhinoceros beetle) ring is set with rock crystal, mother of pearl, black lacquer and diamonds, while the Bourdon (Bumblebee) ring imitates natural iridescence with rock crystal, mother of pearl, onyx, black lacquer and diamonds, both in white gold.

The Lucane (Stag beetle) two-finger ring/brooch and the Papillon de Nuit (Moth) brooch/hair jewel are more ambitious in scale. The former would be scarily realistic were it not for the pavé-set diamonds and black lacquer covering every available surface. The latter has wings fashioned from white and grey mother of pearl, black lacquer and baguette-cut diamonds with hand-carved veining on each wing and a hollowed-out underside to accommodate a metal structure and multi-wear mechanism. Finally, the Untamed Nature story comes to an end with Trio d’Insectes (Trio of Insects) in the form of a bee ear clip, a ladybug brooch and a fly brooch. All three are crafted with crystal, mother of pearl, black lacquer, and white gold to blend seamlessly with the larger Plants creations, just as nature intended!

Is there anything more exciting than a new Boucheron High Jewellery collection? Untamed Nature is the very essence of jewellery pushed to the limits, transformed, adapted, considered and made into something new and exciting. These pieces are wild and imaginative but ultimately wearable, which is what gives Boucheron its edge. Can anyone knock the heritage Maison off its bejewelled pedestal? I will wait to find out.