You may be asking yourself what the Cirque du Soleil, a theatrical circus troupe with humble roots in street performance founded partially with a grant from the government of Quebec has in common with Boucheron, one of Place Vendome's oldest and most venerable residents and purveyor of fine jewels to various crowned heads of Europe. The link would be none other than the very colorful Canadian entrepreneur Guy Laliberté, a former stiltwalker and fire-eater, philanthropist, recent space tourist, one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world (2004) and co-founder and current majority stakeholder of Cirque du Soleil.
Laliberté also happens to be an avid art collector with a particular affinity for fine jewelry and timepieces. Moreover, thanks to the expansion of the Cirque du Soleil franchise around the globe, he now has the means to indulge his passions and celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of his award-winning productions in a manner befitting the Cirque du Soleil's success. To mark the occasion, Laliberté, a private client of Boucheron, asked the 152-year old maison to design twenty necklaces each inspired by various Cirque du Soleil productions. The result is a spectacular collection dubbed Inspiria.
I had the opportunity to see the necklaces last week at Boucheron's salons in Paris where Martin Bundock, Cirque du Soleil's senior arts integration adviser graciously explained how the project came to be. Laliberté wanted each necklace to be an interpretation of various themes from Cirque du Soleil productions which range from the nomadic soul of the gypsies (Varekai) to Elvis Presley. Three of Boucheron's jewelry designers were provided with visual and written materials relating to the Cirque's current and past productions and instructed to translate them into a series of necklaces. Not surprisingly for a project of this scale, the collection took roughly three years to create from conception to production.
Successful collaborations between two strong brands with very distinct identities can be somewhat tricky. What I find compelling about the Inspiria collection is that Boucheron's artisans managed to gracefully translate the frequently esoteric themes of Cirque du Soleil's productions while infusing the pieces with just enough of Boucheron's characteristic style to be identifiably "Boucheron", no small feat. While some of the necklaces incorporate design elements which make direct reference to a particular production as is the case with the Saltimbanco necklace, others are less obvious and manage to transcend the themes to achieve something altogether unique, a testament to Boucheron's unparalleled expertise.
Each of the twenty necklaces has been replicated with one set remaining with the Cirque du Soleil and the second to be sold with a portion of the proceeds donated to One Drop, a charity founded by Laliberté to provide clean drinking water to developing countries. The collection will be on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from March 31 to August 29, 2010 before moving to the Cirque du Soleil Foundation.
Sincerely,
The Luxe Chronicles
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