Giving form to the elusive: This is the principle behind Les Jeux de l’ombre, the new high jewelry collection designed by Pierre Hardy, creative director of Hermès jewelry. It relates the movement of shadow and its relationship with light, and the contrasts that connect them.
Light travels through this entire collection. The jewelry pieces appear to break free from their shadow and radiate an intense and colorful glow, enhanced by their gemstones in dégradé or monochrome shades. In a subtle interplay, differences also lead to attraction.
“Shadow is the light’s treasure.”
Pierre Hardy, creative director of Hermès jewelry.
Miroir d’ombre necklace. White gold set with baguette-cut diamonds and one cushion-cut yellow diamond (3 carats) – shadow in a dégradé of blue sapphires.
A unique approach to pavé setting brings the form to life. On the Chaînes d’ombre necklace, the juxtaposition of flat-cut white diamonds shadowed by dégradés of black spinels and blue sapphires gives the Chaîne d’ancre chain link its volume. Gracefully flexing across the skin, this necklace required each individual stone to be meticulously gemset.
Chaînes d’ombre necklace. White gold with pave-set diamonds – shadow in a dégradé of black spinels and blue sapphires.
Pierre Hardy’s inspirations reconnect with the functional esthetics that are so essential to Hermès with ingenious jewelry mechanisms. The know-how applied reaches its pinnacle in the Couleurs du jour necklace, a triptych that opens and closes, concealing its treasures or exposing them to the light.
Couleurs du jour necklace. Presented with its panels open.
Rough, uncut stones, chosen for their intensity, give rise to Lumières brutes, a series of rings and earrings. By filtering the light, these stones produce variations of a single shade that take us back to their original splendor, as treasures of the earth.
Lumières brutes ring. Rose gold set with one rough brown diamond – shadow in diamonds and a dégradé of brown to ebony diamonds. Unique piece.
