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- SIGNED JEWELERY -

Chaumet: creations for leading women!

DIRECTED BY KYRA BRENZINGER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

GA great specialist in tiaras, the Chaumet house has built a unique history with Joséphine de Beauharnais, who remains the eternal muse of the brand. Let's discover the iconic pieces that make today's emblematic women dream.

The famous founder Nitot from father to son

Marie-Etienne Nitot is a real creative genius of the future house Chaumet since he founded his workshop in his name in 1780 in Paris. A few years later, he had the honor of setting the famous Regent diamond of 136 carats (now in the Louvre) on Napoleon's coronation sword. François-Regnault Nitot joins his father for business and meets the Empress Joséphine who orders many jewels from him. They officially become the jewelers of the imperial court and official suppliers of Empress Josephine. An extremely modern woman for her time, the Empress lived in her Malmaison castle surrounded by the best botanists. They create for her her garden covered with delicately colored roses or hydrangeas which Joséphine also appreciates transformed into precious jewels by the jeweler.

The bee as an imperial emblem: Bee my Love

Even if the Bee my love collection is contemporary (2011), the bee emblem dates from the kings of France and was taken up again during the Napoleonic era. Symbol of sovereigns since the Merovingians, the bee was chosen by Emperor Napoleon 1st to adorn the purple mantle of his coronation. Evoking immortality and resurrection, bees were selected to link the new dynasty to the origins of France. Subsequently, this symbol adorned many jewels such as these pairs of clip brooches or the Bee my Love rings of contemporary creations in the shape of a honeycomb. To bring even more glamour, the Chaumet house created in autumn 2021 an 88-facet diamond cut in the shape of an alveolus called the Empress cut adorning the Bee my Love creations.

Jewels of feelings: the acrostic and Links collections

The unconditional love between Napoleon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais is an inexhaustible inspiration for the Chaumet house. Today, she reinterprets the acrostic jewel, commissioned by Bonaparte for Joséphine. Composed of colored stones, the jewel contains a message to be discovered. Thus, the amethyst forms the letter “A” and the morganite the “m” gradually creating the word “Love”. Another symbolic jewel, the Link is a collection, created in the 70s, but which draws its inspiration from the passionate attachment of the imperial couple. It has become one of the great best sellers of the house, reinterpreted as a multi-row necklace or as a simple ring to evoke our sincere attachment to a loved one.

The Place Vendôme installation 

Thanks to prestigious commissions, François-Regnault Nitot decided to settle in Place Vendôme in 1812, shortly after the death of his father. He was the first jeweler to settle in this square at number 15 (today occupied by the famous Ritz hotel). He creates adornments, adorned with diamonds playing on the shades of precious stones such as splendid blue or orange sapphires. Until the fall of the Empire, he continued his activity and then sold his business to his workshop manager, Jean-Baptiste Foissin. As in the Nitot family, the son Jules Foissin joins his father and form a duo recognized for their creations in the romantic style featuring the flora metamorphosed into head jewelry or delicate trembling brooches.

The Chaumet family takes the reins by setting up a boutique on Place Vendôme

The jeweler Prosper Morel took over the workshop in 1862 and his daughter married Joseph Chaumet who took over the management of the company in 1885. He decided to set up the workshop and above all a boutique at 12, place Vendôme, the current headquarters of the House. A true visionary, he developed numerous patents and advanced the study of gemology. Regarding the creations, he launched the aigrettes, an alternative to tiaras in a lighter version, which became an emblematic style of the house. Moreover, jewelry-style bird wings are one of her favorite themes for creating artistic brooches to wear on either side of a neckline or on the shoulders. It explores all the themes of fauna and flora, still poetically evoked today with the “Attrape-moi” collection.

Art Deco, a new era

The interwar period flattened all styles to create a new vision between cubism and futurism. It was Marcel Chaumet who took over from his father and adapted the Art Deco style with graphic elements by creating headbands with geometric stone cuts. Boyish-looking women want unique jewelry like lasso necklaces to wear in a back neckline. The colors are more sober in black & white, deploying the contrasts of onyx and diamond. Exotic inspirations bring touches of ebony, mother-of-pearl or coral, inviting you on a real jeweler's journey. 

From the 50s to the acquisition by the LVMH group

The two sons of Marcel Chaumet, Jacques and Pierre, want to bring new impetus to the company to reach a wider audience and by offering a watch collection. In the 70s, they called on the designer Pierre Sterlé who reinterpreted the favorite themes of fauna and flora with inimitable slender lines. The Chaumet brothers launch the Liens line which becomes an emblematic collection of the brand, today reinterpreted in colored stones with the Liens Harmony model. Bad managers, particularly in a case of illegal resale of diamonds, they had to resell the company in 1987 to an investment fund in Bahrain before being bought in 1999 by the LVMH group.

The LVMH group gave a new dimension to the brand by creating the Joséphine collection in 2010 in homage to the empress and historic muse of Chaumet. This collection is inspired by the shape of the tiara with in particular composable rings created from different rings in diamonds, pearls or colored stones. The High Jewelry creations feature exceptional Australian opals as in the Le Grand Frisson collection (2008) or exceptional diamonds in the Déferlante collection of 2022, made up of tiaras. Always returning to the brand's first love, Chaumet exhibits its exceptional history throughout the world, from Tokyo to Beijing via Monaco. When the history of jewelry meets great history with panache.

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