Jewelry historian and curator Vanessa Cron talks us through the Maison’s exhibition dedicated to its avant-garde creations between 1965 and 1985.

Welcome to this new season of the Jewelry Connoisseur podcast brought to you by Rapaport. You've missed us? We've been away for a year, and if you've listened to our two first seasons, you know we love jewelry stories and jewelry history. We interviewed designers, dealers, collectors, historians on different topics that you can find in our archive on all the podcast platforms. In this new season, we're going to carry on interviewing people who love jewelry, who know about jewelry. In the first episode, I'm interviewing Vanessa Cron, a jewelry historian who has curated Chaumet’s Un Age d'Or, The Golden Age, an exhibition which is taking place in Paris from October the 5th. And you wonder, who am I?

[00:00:03] Vanessa: I'm very well, thank you, and you, Sonia?

[00:00:28] Vanessa: in fact, the idea was very much coming from, uh, working through the archives of the house and discovering some, I would say, new jewels, new to me because of course they date back to the seventies, but it was very new to me to realize how much Chaumet had been an avant garde jeweler during this period. So it came up with some specific jewels, especially a gold ear ornament that I found completely contemporary, although it was made in [00:01:00] 1970. And then when I realized this, I decided to dive a bit deeper into the archive of the house and into the history of the house during this period to discover a whole complete universe of avant garde and bold jewels created by Maison Chaumet in a specific context because obviously the 70s were a very special, era for many reasons. And it was a whole discovery to find all these jewels and to find the extent of the creation that is not only linked to just the jewels, but also going to having a second boutique opened, called L'Arcade on Place Vendôme. So all of this was the beginning of looking into more and to finally come up with this exhibition, Un Age d'Or, The Golden Age.

[00:01:53] Vanessa: So, the name golden age is probably linked to the fact that during the seventies, a lot of yellow [00:02:00] gold was used. that's a very interesting fact because when you think about it at the beginning of the seventies, gold was, as we would say today, cheap. So yellow gold was relatively cheap. And during the 70s, the prices went from something like $35 an ounce up to 800 something an ounce. it was completely crazy in terms of value, the yellow gold. So it was still one of the material the most used, at the time. It's interesting also to see that it's always a cycle in jewelry. So in the sixties was a bit more white the metal in the 70s became yellow again or something like this. So you can see the cycle coming, but really the 70s were pretty much yellow gold. And it's funny because then later in the history of jewelry, when you look at it later in the 90s, 80s and 90s. It was coming back [00:03:00] to white, and now I see that yellow is coming back greatly in fashion right now. So it's always a cycle. I think it's very interesting. Also, un âge d'or, so a golden age, because during this period, the workshops, at Chaumet, had really a focus on working metal. So working metal, of course, gold, but not only. Bronze was also very much used, which is very interesting because not a lot of jewelers were using this specific metal with its patina, this color that is so different from any other color in metal. So the work on metal, and especially on yellow gold, in terms of texture, in terms of polish, in terms of all these type of techniques applied to gold, is very important. And some of the jewels, at L'Arcade, were in fact only made of gold. So no stones. It's interesting because the work, the savoir faire of the house. The great savoir faire and excellence of the house, was [00:04:00] very much represented into these collections of jewels at this period.

[00:04:20] Vanessa: Yeah, so, in fact, we can see from the mid 60s, a sort of shift in the creation. That's what we're going to show, in the exhibition. So, Chaumet was already what it was, as it's always been, like a high jewelry, haute joaillerie maison. and then in parallel to this, so not replacing this. I'm just mentioning because it's important. It's not that there was a decision to move from something to another. It was just a decision to add something to the offer that was already there. The second offer, the other path was one of very creative, artistic jewels. So [00:05:00] the main focus was not especially on fine stones or precious stones, diamonds and... it was more on the, aspect of aesthetics. So that would be the volumes, the proportions, the design itself, at the time, the studio, of the house, was, headed by someone called René Morin. His name, I didn't know much. I have to say before I started to dig deep into the archives. And he, in fact, is probably the hand or the spirit behind a lot of the jewels that we consider as being super innovative and super avant garde. He was not the only one, but he was the person in house to really work on this and really decide of the spirit. Of course, with the Chaumet brothers who were heading the house. But it was really this collaboration that led to this very bold idea of a collection for L'Arcade so his name is very important because he's probably the one that had the most influence on the jewels that we [00:06:00] will see in the exhibition. Another name that is a bit more well known would be Pierre Sterlé that we don't have to introduce normally because on his own as a jeweler, he was already very famous. He had collaborated with Chaumet from a long time. He started in the thirties. So it's really a very long collaboration. It's just that during the seventies, he went on working, exclusively for Chaumet. And there, developed also some jewels that were also in parallel with the ones of René Morin again big volumes, another take and another idea of the theme of nature and flora through his designs that were pretty much to be compared to sculptures more than to jewels. Just so happen that you can wear your sculptures. So that's that's pretty cool. And you can really recognize, in fact, there are two hands in the jewels because they have different views. They have in common something that is really more on the artistic side, for the [00:07:00] jewelry and based really a focus being put on design. Very important.

[00:07:21] Vanessa: Yes, you have. In fact, it's just in terms of value is just a way to shift how you put value also on a jewel. So high jewelry, of course, is what it is. So you have some materials that are very precious, whether it be platinum, gold or diamonds, sapphires and stones like this. They have like a value that is important. That is part of the final value, of course, of the jewel. When you go into a more artistic path, the value is put on the artistry, meaning on the aesthetic. It doesn't mean that you cannot have also some precious materials, which is the case here. You have gold, you have a lot of incredible [00:08:00] stones, but really the value would be more on the project itself at the end, meaning an object that is considered almost like a work of art. So you have these designs, you have some jewels that are, as I was saying, the use of bronze and the use of gold together, is very interesting. There is a very important necklace with some ginkgo leaves, very important when you see it in terms of volumes, usually the jewels from L'Arcade, L'Arcade being the second boutique that was opened in 1970 on Place Vendôme, second boutique for Chaumet, solely dedicated to the Arcade collection being this collection of specific jewels. When you see them, you have an understanding also that they were not worn the same way as other jewels. So maybe in a way it's very strange because you can say that you can wear them every day, but also they are so different from anything else that they make you stand out. [00:09:00] So, I always say when I see these jewels, the ones that you will see in the exhibition, that if you wear one of these arriving at any party, you will be the talk of the evening. Absolutely. Because they stand out so much. We are not talking, I have to say, about discreet little jewels. We're talking about jewels that have something to say, and it's interesting because it was really one of the, catchphrase on the ads of Chaumet at the time during the 70s. Chaumet des bijoux qui ont quelque chose à dire. So that's Chaumet, jewels that have something to say. Which is exactly what it is. When you see them, you, there is a reaction. You understand? It's really a reaction to, To the piece itself and to its volume and to its artistry. So, yes, some jewels, this one I'm talking about, the Ginkgo bronze and hammered gold, necklace, very important. And you see the work on the metal, the gold being hammered gold and then the bronze. You have a feeling also of something with inspiration from ancient jewels. Because you can feel that [00:10:00] through the techniques of hammered gold and the technique on the bronze. And at the same time, it's super modern. So it's great the use of ancient techniques, that the workshop decided to, because they had the knowledge, they had the savoir faire, absolutely to use these different metals in different type of techniques. But to put it to good use for something super contemporary at the time and very modern in the end and completely timeless when you when you see the most of the jewels that you have in the exhibition, I have to say, a lot of people would not know if we didn't tell them that they were made 50 years ago. They would think it's been made last year because that's what timeless is and it's very difficult to achieve you can't know when you do it because that's what you try But the result 50 years after looking at them from half a century later really tells us as much as the timeless of the creation. So that's very interesting

[00:11:28] Vanessa: Yes. In fact, discovering all these jewels and putting them together as a collection for an exhibition, you understand also that they need to be put into that context because it's not that they make no sense. It's just that you don't understand the power of them if you don't put them in their original context. And especially because the seventies were probably an era, a decade that was so interesting to revisit now because of a lot of reasons, whether it be music or fashion or decoration, you name it, it was very interesting. [00:12:00] A lot of people were pushing boundaries to the maximum of what they could, and maybe too much sometime, but that's fine I always say it's always fine to, go even a bit too much, but at least that means you're trying to move forward. It was also a very troubled era for a lot of reasons, conflict around the world in terms of economy, it was not so easy. you had some very important events that were having people struggling with the economy. But still, there was a sense of freedom. There was a sense of hope that everything will be going in the right direction. So I'm not saying that this happened in the end, but people were very hopeful. I think during the seventies for their future. And the arts were going all the way all around, very different from what it was before, Because it's also what we see now as being contemporary art and all of these type of things came from this era. So we thought it would be important also to show in the context of what it was. Also because, as [00:13:00] I tell you, the jewels that we see in the exhibition, some of them you would feel are very contemporary. Because they're timeless, so they look contemporary. I wanted to put them back into their context. Because then they get even more avant garde when you see what was the era. So we thought it would be interesting to have a sort of time capsule for people, so when they enter the exhibition, they will enter not a room of jewels, but a room in the 1970s. So that's what is interesting, I think, in the exhibition also is to try to put a bit of context around it. So we've been very lucky that, we have a bit of fashion also in the exhibition, from Paco Rabanne and Dior. so that's also because these two houses during the 70s were very important and it allows us to display probably what the type of fashion that you would wear wearing these jewels. So that's also interesting. We have some, great, furniture by Pierre Paulin, who was one of the great designer, of the time and worked for the [00:14:00] French president at the time for the palais de l'Élysée to decorate the whole place. So we have different elements of art. Of, interior design of fashion, the music that will be also in the exhibition that will be a music from the seventies. So the idea is a bit to enter into this space. Of course, we can't make it like a complete bubble of the seventies, but it's really a step into this era because that will put the jewels into that context. And when you see some of these jewels and you will feel. They are so different from what we could imagine. It's great to see them into this context of the seventies, to understand even more how avant garde they were, because it's always easy 50 years after to look at something and say, that's normal now, but yeah it was not completely normal in the 1970s to have the boutique Chaumet had on Place Vendôme it's just an example, but in 1970 when they opened the Arcade boutique on Place [00:15:00] Vendôme, so the second boutique of Chaumet, the boutique itself was open all the time. there was no door so you could enter, it was imagined as an art gallery. You could enter the place just visit like this, and you would have some sound and light inside the place. So you would have different lights of different colors to present you the jewels. You have music, like the origin of electronic music. was already there in 1970. Some of the jewels were worn directly and it would be presented to you as being worn by a woman you would see exactly how it looked like on someone... it was so different from, 50 years ago, how jewels were presented in, a boutique, which was very different. But there was suddenly even the way the jewels were presented to the clients. It was very different. So it was a whole concept. It's not only the jewels. That's what I want to say. It's not only the jewels.

[00:16:29] Sonia: That's fascinating. And tell me, Vanessa, if people fell in love with this type of jewelry will they be able to, obviously not buy it from the exhibition, but is it the type of jewelry that comes up at auction? Is it, in, estate dealers? Do you see it as actually available or people who are lucky enough to have bought it, have passed it on and it's kept in private collections?

[00:16:54] Sonia: I love that.

[00:18:01] Sonia: That's an open invite. If you're listening to this

[00:18:04] Sonia: Well, please go and tell Vanessa you're coming.

but you still have some, sometimes if you can find you have to, look for them, you have to look for them, but maybe you're going to be lucky and find some.

[00:18:55] Vanessa: This period is not yet completely covered in terms of [00:19:00] history. I think it's really because also, we are getting to 50 years after people are, I'm not saying that no one has looked into it, but I'm saying it's not been covered like Art Deco has been covered. For example, you can find a lot of information about Art Deco period. I'm not talking about a specific jeweler here, I'm talking about in general. So the same with the 70s, it's starting to come in, but it's not yet been covered exactly the same way as other periods. and as for Chaumet, during the exhibition on the website of Chaumet there will be some articles commenting this exhibition in case you can't come and see it, you will have already some information and jewels that you will be able to see on the website. And then we're hoping to get more soon. We'll let you know for sure.

[00:20:14] Vanessa: Yeah. And also it's a very fun period. So I hope people will like this also that it's a really fun period that people are happy to revisit because usually when you have images of the 70s in your head, you're going to imagine someone laughing, someone dancing, someone having fun. And that's exactly what it is. I think also these jewels and it's not I'm not comparing to anything else. I'm just saying it's also nice to have some jewels that are linked to a joyous era of seeing something that you want to wear because they bring joy to people. So there is something about this. I think in this exhibition in a golden age, there is something about joy, which I think is very important to link to jewelry also because it should bring joy. And it's exactly what it is [00:21:00] with this exhibition, which is very interesting. And you're right, I'm sure people will be surprised by what they're gonna see that they maybe would not have imagined, from Chaumet. And it's another side of the house that will be discovered for many people. And I think it's always interesting when you get to do this.

[00:21:31] Vanessa: Thank you.

 Thank you for listening to the Jewelry Connoisseur podcast by Rappaport Jewelry Pro. This episode was hosted by Sonia Ester Soltani and produced and edited by Vanina You can find all our episodes on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and read more about diamonds, colored gemstones, high jewelry designers, estate jewelry, and the latest jewelry trends on Rappaport. com slash Jewelry Connoisseur. Please subscribe to get all our new episodes and if you liked this one, leave us a review.