Biennale des Antiquaires: Chaumet previews high jewellery collection that captures a watery wonderland

By Francesca Fearon in London

There is something therapeutic about watching waves beating rhythmically onto a sandy shore that allows the mind to wander freely. As well as being the artistic director of Chaumet, Claire Dévé-Rakoff is a keen photographer. Following a holiday by the sea, Dévé-Rakoff was so mesmerised by the way the images she took caught the light on the water that she was inspired to make her Paris Biennale des Antiquaires debut with a collection based on light and water, appropriately named Lumières d'Eau.

Her opulent collection for Chaumet will flood the Grand Palais with the blue-green hues of the ocean and the myriad colours and states of all things liquid: sapphires, emeralds, lapis lazuli, tanzanite and tourmalines along with watery white Ethiopian opals and the warm sandy tones of yellow sapphires and golden South Pacific pearls. A passionate colourist, Dévé-Rakoff's jewels are an invitation to dive deep into these exquisite gemstone waters.

There are fringed blue sapphire sautoirs and earrings dipped in sandy golden yellow sapphires, much like the tide lapping at the shore. There is also an intense blue 45.64 carat tanzanite that has seemingly emerged from the depths of the abyss to form a pom-pom on a lapis lazuli and black spinel beaded necklace. This, along with 59.58 and 39 carat icy white opals in another of the sets within the Lumières d'Eau collection, are among the biggest stones that Chaumet has ever worked with.

While Dévé-Rakoff's collection is rich with colour, water is also celebrated in its frozen state with diamonds mixed with rock crystal - a stone that Chaumet has not used for many years but is becoming increasingly popular in jewellery circles right now. A collar of frozen rock crystal and diamond melts into liquid, while another diamond glistens like water on a frosted crystal ring.

In all there will be 53 magical pieces of Chaumet high jewellery on show at the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris this September that will transport us to the watery kingdom's treasures that lie below.

Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery ring in white gold set with brilliant-cut, square-cut and baguette-cut diamonds, blue and yellow sapphires and a 5.10ct oval-cut sapphire from Madagascar.
Chaumet high jewellery necklace in white and yellow gold, set with two oval-cut blue sapphires from Ceylon, two pear-shaped yellow sapphires, round and baguette-cut blue and yellow sapphires, and diamonds, from the Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery collection.
Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery necklace in white and yellow gold set with an oval-cut blue sapphire from Ceylon of 10.23ct, a pear-shaped VVS1 Fancy Yellow diamond of 3.77ct, blue and yellow sapphires, and diamonds.
Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery necklace in white gold with a 45.64ct troidia-cut tanzanite, three cushion-cut sapphires, sapphires, sapphire beads, lapis lazuli beads and black spinel beads.
Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery ring in white gold, set with a 16.50ct troidia-cut tanzanite, round sapphires, lapis lazuli and brilliant-cut diamonds.
Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery necklace in white gold, created for the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris, set with a 59.58 ct cabochon-cut white opal and opal motifs from Ethiopia, round and oval-cut violet sapphires from Ceylon and Madagascar, oval-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds, and faceted diamond and amethyst beads.
Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery ring in white gold, set with a 18.58ct cabochon-cut white opal from Ethiopia, an oval-cut violet sapphire, round violet sapphires and brilliant-cut diamonds.
Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery necklace in white gold, frosted rock crystal and diamonds.
Chaumet Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery ring in platinum and rock crystal, set with a central cushion-cut diamond, brilliant-cut and troidia-cut diamonds.
Chaumet high jewellery bracelet in white gold set with a 39.05ct cabochon-cut white opal from Ethiopia, brilliant-cut diamonds, oval-cut violet sapphires from Ceylon and Madagascar and round violet sapphires, from the Lumieres d’Eau high jewellery collection.