The creative director on her West Coast visits and her ongoing search for innovative methods and materials far beyond precious metals and impeccable stones
Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL
On Place Vendôme, Claire Choisne may be one of the only women to lead a jewelry house as creative director, but — while seated on the sun-drenched deck at the Sunset Tower Hotel — she credits her approach to her craft as the reason she stands apart. At Boucheron, which she has helmed since 2011, her collections are shaped by the idea she most wants to express at the moment. She uses metals and gemstones to further the concept. This approach runs counter to that of many designers, who often start creating with the stones themselves. Choisne says she thinks of her tenure with the house as part of a relay race that began with its founder, Frédéric Boucheron, and has continued with each successive jeweler. “I want to push the techniques forward, push the vision,” she says. “Our individual time at the helm is small compared to the age of the maison, and I want to run fast doing my part.” Hours before the jewelry house’s star-studded party celebrating its first Los Angeles boutique on Wednesday, October 22, C caught up with Choisne to discuss design, innovation, and coastal wildlife.
The designer recently spent the summer traveling through California taking in the mood, the coastline, and the wildlife, logging everything in her phone and with her mind’s eye, and reserving the observations to tap into later when she devises future collections. She’s often inspired by the natural world and found plenty of elements to explore along Highway 1 through Big Sur and Carmel by the Sea, and amid the towering trees at Sequoia National Park. “I took so many pictures of pelicans,” she says, laughing, as she flips through her phone to find them. The designer is known to ruminate on ideas for extended periods. “I spend a year or more thinking about a collection,” says Choisne, who creates two high jewelry launches each year. One is designed carte blanche with no existing frame of reference; for the other, she delves into the archives to launch pieces that include updated elements of past works.
Choisne says she strives to “give eternity to the ephemeral,” often creating jewelry that riffs on the impermanence of nature with the hope that the metals and stones will spark an appreciation for it. The precious and semi-precious materials are “almost never the starting point.” In 2020, Choisne wanted to create a piece of sky as the focal point for a necklace. Some jewelers may have looked at aquamarine or other blue stones. For the Goutte de Ciel necklace, she found NASA’s aerogel with a very low density, composed mostly of air with a bit of silica. “It looks like the sky and it’s made of air,” she says, adding, “It was the best way to express the idea.” A new collection, Quatre Sand, evolved out of the notion of giving shape and color to water. Choisne traveled to Iceland to see the contrast between the country’s black sand and blue water. Her innovation team located technology — from the auto and aeronautics industries — that allowed for 3D printing with black sand so she could explore how to create a set of cuff bracelets and bangles with graphic lines. “I’ve learned that if something feels right, trust your idea,” Choisne says.
October 27, 2025
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