High Jewellery: Incredible Gems “Bloom” in Louis Vuitton’s “Blossom collection”

“Blossom”, a wonderful word describing the moment flowers appear on fruit trees. The same name is given to a line of jewellery by Louis Vuitton that in Spring 2016 “blossomed” into a collection of everyday pieces of jewellery and watches. We now have the opportunity to relish these instances of High Jewellery, which were presented at Paris Fashion Week.

The jewellery line was inspired by one of the brand’s four key symbols, the Monogram Flower. Louis Vuitton’s designers have continued to play with variations on the brand’s emblem, the four-petalled motif, translating it into roughly sixty new rings, bracelets and earrings, as well as seven spectacular necklaces.

The Louis Vuitton flower adapts perfectly to any design, from the minimalistic and humble to the solemnly chic. Filled with enamel and luxury stones, it provokes unexpected associations. The sautoir with a petalled flower pendant is combined with an expressive, azure-coloured 43.05-carat beryl complemented with baguette-cut diamonds. The perfectly placed stone is perpetually evocative of southern oceans. The contrasting materials emphasise this landmark collection: the opaque is combined with the brilliant, the dull with the transparent. Ever the same, and yet  different, the abstract flower is all the more precious for the combination and matching of sophisticated creative techniques: sculpture, gem cutting and Grand Feu enamelling. A closer look distinguishes the letter V – a reference to the Gaston-Louis Vuitton’s personal signature and one of the Maison’s iconic motifs.

As is the case with the previous High Jewellery collections by Louis Vuitton, in the centre of each piece is a unique gemstone. Here, an intense, bright 7.13-carat mandarin garnet, a sparkling, glistening 53.01-carat black opal, and an extremely rare 29.75-carat garnet recently found in Merelani, Tanzania become the focal point of a design. Incidentally, Merelani stone’s bright yellow-green tones are in great to the usual deep green hues of tsavorites. What’s more, the garnets from the new mine radiate with a sort of inner glow, making them visible even in dim light. This extremely rare property is generally inherent only to the tourmalines of Paraíba. One of the key sets was the necklace and earrings with flowers carved from white opal, and teardrop-shaped spinel pendants. It is hard to find the words to describe the rare reddish-pink colour of spinels. Their tone was so incredibly rich and bright that I was not surprised when I found out that all three gems were cut from the same mineral.

As you can see, thanks to the excellent equilibrium between shapes, forms, rare materials, deep colours and stunning pieces, the Blossom collection is the pinnacle of jewellery metamorphoses for the Monogram Flower.