Beekeeping is in fashion. All over the world, by the account that brings us, but particularly in France where more and more people are really interested in bees. In caring for them and saving them to save biodiversity, pollination and, consequently, the world. The bee and its honeycomb are symbols of the foundation of a strong and lasting relationship. But the bee is also an imperial symbol, and of Chaumet since his most famous client in his early days, Napoleon himself, commissioned the first jewel for Empress Josephine.
Now the firm born more than 240 years ago, the same one that in 1907 installed at number 12 Place Vendôme, the first boutique in the sector in the nerve center of Paris (to take advantage of the reflection of sunlight on the diamonds to attracting its select clientele), returns to its creative origins with the Bee My Love collection. Jean-Marc Mansvelt, current CEO of Chaumet, is proud of this collection. But above all of his process.
“We began to work on the idea of Be my love based on the hexagon, which, like the bee, is another historical symbol of Chaumet”, explains Masvelt, who recognized that “although we work well with gold and carve perfect hexagons, it was difficult to find the formula to find the perfect combination of that symbol with other elements. We reflected on the subject for a long time until one day the head of the workshop and diamond expert showed me the hexagonal diamond: 88 faces, carved by hand but calculated by a computer. It was the solution."
The very wide collection, from the most affordable pieces to the most worked, is that, very Chaumet. Very much in keeping with this passion for bees, and also very coherent since the firm, will donate the proceeds from the sale of the Bee My Love rings to its "save the bees" campaign, which supports the French Association Terre d'Abeilles.
Chaumet is a bicentennial house. It all began when, after being a jeweler's apprentice at the court of Queen Marie Antoinette, and after surviving the French Revolution of 1789, Marie-Étienne Nitot was appointed Napoleon's official jeweler. She designed important pieces for him such as the crown itself and the handle of his ceremonial sword. And he founded and took over the famous French jewelery, watch and costume jewelery house to cater to his aristocratic clientele which, over the years, became Chaumet until he abandoned the business in 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, to bequeath the business to his workshop manager, Jean-Baptiste Fossin.
Looking for ways to survive in the new phase, the new owner, Fossin, teamed up with Jean-Valentin Morel, with whom he founded a workshop in London and landed a royal client. Queen Victoria herself. And this is when Chaumet (finally called that since Joseph Chaumet married Marie Morel, heiress to the company, in 1885) resumed the idyll with the bee.
A bee that is now in fashion but, just as it was the emblem of Napoleon, is that of Chaumet (now belonging to the imposing luxury group), the expert beauty firm that over the years has declined its symbology and possibilities in all types of pieces and in all periods. Already from his distant audacity that was the fact of opening his impressive boutique at the beginning of the last century (where his impressive collection of tiaras is exhibited) in Place Vendôme.
