Beatrice De Plinval, Chaumet
Issue 17: www.goldinspirations.com MEET: BEATRICE DE PLINVAL,
CHAUMET Beatrice de Plinval is Director of the Museum and Archives
at Chaumet, the historic Place Vendome master jeweller, founded in
1780 by the goldsmith Nitot who became jeweller to Napoleon
Bonaparte. In 1999 Chaumet joined the LVMH group, and since the
arrival of a new management team, headed by Thierry Fritsch, in
2001, the brand has been relaunched with a strong identity and a
chic, contemporary design direction. “I started
working at Chaumet in 1969, and spent 10 years in the design
studio, where I specialised in a naturalistic style. In 1980, at
the time of Chaumet’s bi-centenary, I was asked
to develop the historical aspect of the company.
“My job has never been so fashionable, or
instrumental, as it is today, so much a part of the creative
process. This is a good moment to link fashion and history. I work
closely with Lionel Giraud, Creative Director, and his team, and
with Jacques Combes, Chef d’Atelier. We meet
regularly, in the inspirational, historic salons of the Chaumet
Museum, to discuss ideas, and look through the 300,000 archive
drawings. It is not a question of recreating historic jewels, but
of perpetuating a style and modernising it, or as Lionel Giraud
calls it ‘picking up the threads of the past and
pulling on them’. “Gold is
the base of everything we do, without gold our
“metier†would not exist. Our
iconic Anneau collection celebrates gold through its pure,
generously rounded ring forms. The graphic Liens ring, with its
stitch motif, expressing links and connections, now comes in pink
gold, and is also bought by men. I think Chaumet is about elegance
in its own time, but also about passion, which drives the brand
today as it has through two centuries. We need passion in life. The
only way to exist is to push others forward, and when young
designers from our studio come to talk to me, I give them roots and
wings.†MEET Beatrice de Plinval - Chaumet Page One
Left hand picture: Portrait of Beatrice de Plinval. Right hand
picture: Chaumet's Anneau pendant in both yellow and white gold.
Page Two Left hand picture: Exterior of the Chaumet Boutique at the
Place Vendome, Paris. Right hand picture: Chaumet's Liens
heart-shaped pendants in yellow and white gold. Page Three Left
hand picture: Chaumet's Style rings in yellow gold. Right hand
picture: Chaumet's yellow gold watch. CHAUMET For further
information and worldwide stockists, please visit www.chaumet.com
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