Mood Board: Boucheron’s Claire Choisne

As the creative director for Boucheron, Claire Choisne has the sleight of hand of a magician — conjuring extraordinary jewelry from her imagination. Since joining the maison in 2011 she’s evolved its legacy, weaving in innovation with a singular creative spirt. Her high jewelry collections employ not just the legacy building blocks of gold and diamonds, but challenge convention with unexpected materials and techniques — real flower petals or aerogel, a material developed by NASA made of 99.8 percent air and silica, for example.

The creative sees today’s clients through a modern lens, using pieces from the day-to-day rather than those kept in a safe. “No longer reserved for special occasions, jewelry today follows us everywhere, reflecting our style and mood in each moment,” Choisne told WWD. “Thanks to genderless and transformable pieces, jewelry becomes a part of our daily expression. It doesn’t just accessorize; it adds value to our personality,” adding that at Boucheron, “we never impose, we propose. It’s up to you to choose your own style!”

Showing two high jewelry collections a year, Choisne let her imagination run wild with innovation as the cornerstone of the carte blanche expression shown in July. Called Impermanence, it was the creative director’s personal look at nature, consisting of seven botanical compositions inspired by ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging. Designed to be displayed as objets d’art or worn on the body, the 28-piece high jewelry collection ranged in color from transparent to pitch black, using state-of-the-art techniques like 3D printing to achieve lifelike renderings of plants and insects. With her January showing, she put an emphasis on the brand’s deep heritage, rethinking legacy pieces from the maison.

From her point of view, she thinks clients should focus on one gold color but matching isn’t necessary. “I always choose yellow gold personally. I never match earrings and necklaces exactly. I love when the shapes vary — I mix Serpent Bohème and Quatre on my ears, necklaces, bracelets and rings.” In the end, it’s about the self-expression, according to Choisne. “The result should be consistent with your style and represent your personality.”

At Boucheron, Choisne feels heritage pieces are still modern today. For example, the Question Mark necklace, created in 1879, “is still worn today but in different ways. It can be styled over a white T-shirt, or worn backward thanks to its new reversible design (created in 2024). So, when I create pieces and explore contemporary ways of wearing jewelry, I never feel like I’m breaking with tradition, I feel like I’m allowing it to keep on living, but in a different way.”