Parisian jewellery house Cartier’s newest offering, the Coloratura Collection, hits the high note by combining interestingly different gemstones in an audacious combination. As its name suggests, colour surges through these jewels with stylish bravado.
Of late, Cartier has become increasingly daring in its use of coloured stones beyond the safety of the traditional trio of rubies, emeralds and sapphires, and the 240-piece Coloratura is ambitious not only in the number of eye-popping bright jewels but in its global scope.
Following the gem-hunting travels of the pioneering Cartier brothers on the cusp of the C20th, the jewels are inspired by the colours, moods and shapes of India, the Far East and Africa.
The designs are, of course, unquestionably Cartier. The house style is evident in the Art Deco symmetry of the pieces, but look again and a sea change is afoot. Like a good mix of guests at a party, the highly precious rub shoulders with the interestingly different. Personalities rarely seen together in the same setting create an eclectic atmosphere. Take the Matsuri ring, where you would expect a Colombian emerald to provide the green note in a composition, but a fresh minty tourmaline shakes things up.
The magnificent Kanaga necklace strings berry-red spinels into a cascading fringe is inspired from the fringed costumes of Mali in West Africa as worn during ceremonial Kanaga mask dances. Like the spontaneous colour bombs that soar through the air to stain revellers with random colour patterns at the Indian Holi festival, the joyous Holika ring is a riot of colour.