Cartier Reveals Its Latest High Jewellery Collection, Nature Sauvage in Vienna
Cartier has created an animal kingdom from diamonds and precious stones for never-seen-before high jewellery that shines bright
When the hand-delivered invitation arrived at Bazaar Arabia HQ for the reveal of Cartier’s latest high jewellery collection in Vienna – we were ready.
The three-day schedule was full of exhibitions, museum visits and performances by the infamous Vienna Boys Choir and promised to be a reveal to remember. The initial discovery of the Nature Sauvage Collection was held at the Kursalon, one of the most famous concert halls in the world, which opened its grand doors in 1867. The Renaissance building sits next to the famous golden Johann Strauss statue. The king of the waltz, Strauss himself, performed at the Kursalon in 1868 to standing ovations. Composer Franz Lehar (of Merry Widow fame) was also a leading composer of the 20th century and often performed military concerts at the hall.
Once in the famed space, guests were greeted by the panther, zebra, flamingo and serpent, which were as bold and more beautiful than ever. The 87-piece collection was the result of thousands of hours of work with the world’s most precious stones. On closer inspection, you could see the animals magically appearing, expertly hidden in necklaces, earrings and timepieces making each creation more magical than the next. Jacqueline Karachi, Director of High Jewellery for Cartier said the collection gives: “A new perspective on the Cartier animals to surprise, amaze and bring modernity by way of unexpected encounters. Expressive jewellery which showcases the attitudes and personality of an animal, its vitality. Like an actor, it plays with graphics, with volume and optical illusions, blending into an imaginary landscape. This is the spirit of Nature Sauvage.”
With so many look-at-me moments, one of our favourite creations has to be the Panthere Jaillissante. A ring-cum-bracelet, the cats coat is made out of diamonds and sapphires with its piercing emerald eyes, and has an 8.63 carat Zambian emerald at its heart.
Another haute highlight was Amphista. This necklace sees two reptiles snake around its wearer’s neck complete with diamond scales set with emeralds. Between the two snakes there are nine octagonal emeralds from Colombia totalling 14.72 carats.
With its perfect profile and standing out for all the right reasons, the striped zebra, Koaga necklace was also a crowd favourite.
The animal holds an emerald-cut diamond and a 6.25 carat pear-shaped rubellite in its mouth, with its iconic stripes made of onyx and paved with brilliant and emerald cut diamonds. Some of the pieces in the collection took up to 2000 hours to make by artisans that have been trained by Cartier for over 15 years. Alexa Abitbol, Director of the High Jewellery workshop in Paris explains: “High jewellery takes a long time. It takes a long time to train people, a long time to make the pieces but these are also the pieces that last the longest. If you were to re-open them in a 100 years, they would still be the same, and that is why we want to keep this traditional know-how. The way we are working, the way we are soldering, the way we are creating the lines and articulations are very solid ways which were done in the past that we are still doing today.”
Following the private viewing, the Nature Sauvage gala dinner took place at the MAK Museum. Guests entered the space to see young debutante’s dancing the Viennese Waltz, then were seated to view the collection via way of a fashion show.
Front row centre sat Sofia Coppola and Elle Fanning who watched the pieces float down the catwalk to the echoing sounds of Renaissance from cult TV show, White Lotus. Guests then enjoyed a dinner entertained by opera singers and aerial artists then dancing to the wee hours at the after-party starring English singer, songwriter, Raye.
It’s no surprise that the next high jewellery collection is well underway in the workshops in Paris with Alexa telling us: “At the moment we are working on the collection that is going to be issued in 2026. So, if you come to the workshop you will see the beginning of 26 to 27 pieces. In the global process, to make a (High Jewellery) collection we need three years.” The process starts with sourcing the stones first, then the designer views the stones and is inspired to start sketching the collection, then the team has to see if it is technically possible. If it is, the creative and making process begins! “In the past, we had a piece of 5000 hours (which could take five years) making it impossible to reach the exhibition date,” explained Alexa.
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Images supplied.