Harper's bazaar arabia cactus de cartier shoot
?
1 like?184 views
The document discusses Cartier's new Cactus de Cartier jewelry collection, which draws inspiration from the rare desert cactus flower. Pierre Rainero, Cartier's director of image and heritage, notes that the cactus flower flourishes in difficult conditions of heat and dryness, and the collection plays on the contrast between the delicate flower and its arid environment. The collection features jewelry incorporating gemstones like emeralds and diamonds in the silhouette of the cactus. Rainero states that Cartier seeks beauty in unexpected places and aims to create pieces that will stand the test of time in their design. The Middle East, with its history and culture of jewelry, plays an important role in inspiring Cartier's
![CREDITHERE
CREDITHERE
104 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016 105 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016
The
XXX
Jewellery instinctively carries with it notions of
hearts and flowers, of a romance often verging on
the saccharine. But step back to analyse one of the
most enduring jewellery marques of all time, Cartier,
and its most iconic creations are mired in far stronger
stuff.
Currently circling my wrist is the ubiquitous Love bracelet, a
blunt-edged gold bangle punctuated with industrial screws. Were that
imagery not potent enough, true to legend, my husband literally locked
it onto my wrist using the accompanying gold key. That’s a wealth of
symbolism right there, enough to keep Freud occupied for days. Next to
it lies the 2012 reissue of the ‘70s design Juste un Clou, literally ‘just a
nail’, a precious reinterpretation of this most basic of building materials
warped into a Dhs25,000-plus treasure. As a
Valentine’s gift, it’s hardly the stuff of sonnets
and sunsets, yet far more enduring than any
other February 14 token.
If Cartier’s classicism in part stems from its
rejection of the obvious and the clichéd, then
its newest opus, Cactus de Cartier, steps up this
fine tradition. Launching this month, the
13-piece [ck with Ehab] collection takes its
design cues from the spiky desert flower whose
silhouette is worked into unexpected, yet
wondrous pieces. Ranging from a convention-
defying floating ring to a dramatic emerald and
gold necklace whose asymmetric placing of 204
diamonds mirrors the reflection of the sun, the
familiar structure of a golden barrel cactus –
colloquially known as mother-in-law’s cushion
– is topped with a succulent array of gemstone
flowers cast in emerald, chrysoprase or
carnelian. Like its botanical nickname it is spiky; a character trait also
reserved by its wearer. This is jewellery that semaphores an instruction
to look but don’t touch.
“It is part of our culture to look for beauty in fields where most other
people will not look,” Cartier’s director of image, style and heritage,
Pierre Rainero, tells me. “The cactus flower is not an obvious flower. It’s
very rare. The cactus flourishes in difficult circumstances and we liked
the idea of contrast between this flower and the context in which it
grows; the extreme conditions of heat, sand and dryness.” As Pierre
adds, “Cartier is about being different.” Like the maison’s other creations
before it, Cactus de Cartier is a far cry from the flowers, fairies and
frivolities of fine jewellery’s more predictable inspirations. “It is true that
we go our own way. It is part of our identity. We cultivate our own
path,” he agrees.
The design process is not calculated, the xx-year-old Frenchman
explains, but merely an extension of “living in the contemporary world
and having a feeling about the women of today”. It is instinctive. From
which we can perhaps imply that Cartier’s customer does not want to be
patronised with peonies but totally gets the brittle beauty of a plant
cheekily known as matriarchal cushioning. She is a woman unafraid to
harness her audacity, her strength of character and quite literally present
herself as ‘prickling with diamonds’, to borrow from the collection’s
publicity material.
“ I T I S P A R T O F O U R
C U L T U R E T O L O O K
F O R B E A U T Y I N
F I E L D S W H E R E M O S T
O T H E R P E O P L E W I L L
N O T L O O K ”
P i e r r e R a i n e r o ,
d i r e c t o r o f i m a g e ,
s t y l e a n d h e r i t a g e ,
C a r t i e r
“Our objective is to create really beautiful jewellery that attracts the
eyes and that people want to touch, to wear and to play with,” Pierre
explains. “We always think: how can a woman live with this object and
wear it? Is the gesture right?”
The beauty of Cartier’s creations isn’t always immediately apparent; it
can take time for the eye to adjust. Not everyone falls in love with
brutish nail-shaped jewellery in an instant, for example. But in contrast
to fleeting puppy love, the romance proposed by Cartier matures over
time into something more eternally enduring. When an informed
understanding of the aesthetics at play is allowed to develop over time,
the wearer develops a deep-seated appreciation of the design that grows,
rather than diminishes, as the years march on. This sense of anticipating
appreciation runs through Cartier’s design modus operandi. “Not only
should you think it is beautiful, when we create something we want
people one generation from now to still think it’s beautiful,” says Pierre
of the house’s rejection of immediacy or current tastes. “We avoid
everything that is too obvious,” he muses, admitting that, “I am not sure
we have a recipe,” when it comes to formulating permanence in design.
“We think of Cartier style over time and creating an object in the Cartier
way. People can immediately recognise the eye of Cartier, which is a
guarantee to clients of the future that the object will be seen in the very
same way,” he explains.
While the notion of women buying serious jewellery for themselves,
rather than receiving it as a gift from a paramour or wealthy benefactor,
has gathered steam only relatively recently, Cartier has a long tradition
of independent female clients who absolutely do not need a man to
furnish their diamond habit. “Even at the beginning of the 20th century
women were buying Cartier on their own. It was the consequence of the
way we were looking at the creation. We were quite daring, or at least a
free spirit. Since the very beginning of the house
we attracted women that were quite
independent,” Pierre smiles.
Key among its strong-minded female clientele
are Middle Eastern women who pay homage to
the brand not only in the region but also from
homes in London, Paris, Geneva and the like.
“There’s a sense of jewellery among people from
the Middle East which is very important,” Pierre
notes. “Because the way women dress in public
and in private is different, jewellery has a different
role. Also, because of the way they dress, jewellery
makes even more of a difference than in any
other culture. When it’s left visible in a very
discreet way, just enough to be seen, that little
detail changes the entire appearance.”
The house’s relationship with the Middle East
harks back over a century, to when Louis Cartier
filled a library with books on Islamic culture and
art – his notes still legible today – for his designers to be inspired by.
“Islamic art is key in the conception of our style,” Pierre affirms, “very
early in the 20th century, Cartier went into abstract shapes and it’s
difficult to separate that work from Islamic art. Even in contemporary
creations that apparently have no link with Islamic culture, you can still
find those influences in some part of our vocabulary.” To wit: “Cartier
was the first to associate blue and green and that came directly from
Islamic tiles.”
Now, Cartier’s celebration of a desert flower provides a fitting
metaphor for its love affair with women descended from a long history
of heat and sand; whose allure flourishes in the face of the harshness of
her environment. Bold, striking and rare, Cartier’s ode to beauty without
borders sings out across the Middle East.
The
JEWELS
Bracelet, POA, 18K
yellow gold, emeralds,
set with diamonds,
Cactus de Cartier;
Dress, Dhs10,850, Gucci.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/harpersbazaararabia-cactusdecartiershoot-161001144026/85/Harper-s-bazaar-arabia-cactus-de-cartier-shoot-3-320.jpg)
Harper's bazaar arabia cactus de cartier shoot
- 1. CREDITHERE CREDITHERE 100 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016 101 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016 The XXX FLOWER Coupling the rare beauty of a flowering cactus with the arid conditions in which it flourishes, this year’s most enticing jewellery launch plays on the contradictions of attraction. Louise Nichol meets Cartier’s director of image, style and heritage, Pierre Rainero, to discover how the Middle East beats at the heart of the house’s inspiration Styling by KATIE TROTTER Photography by MAZEN ABUSROUR DESERT The JEWELS Earrings, POA, 18-carat yellow gold, emeralds, carnelians, each set with 11 brilliant-cut diamonds; Ring, POA, 18K yellow gold, emeralds, carnelians, diamonds; Bracelet, 18K yellow gold, chrysoprases, emeralds, carnelians, set diamonds, all Cactus de Cartier. Top, Dhs2,625, Simone Rocha.
- 2. CREDITHERE 103 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016 The XXX “ T H E R E ’ S A S E N S E O F J E W E L L E R Y A M O N G P E O P L E F R O M T H E M I D D L E E A S T W H I C H I S V E R Y I M P O R T A N T . B E C A U S E O F T H E W A Y T H E Y D R E S S , J E W E L L E R Y M A K E S E V E N M O R E O F A D I F F E R E N C E T H A N I N A N Y O T H E R C U L T U R E ” P i e r r e R a i n e r o , d i r e c t o r o f i m a g e , s t y l e a n d h e r i t a g e , C a r t i e r Opposite: Earring, Dhs118,000, 18K yellow gold, set with diamonds; Ring, Dhs 52,500, 18K yellow gold, set with diamonds all Cactus de Cartier. Top, Dhs3,780, Alexander Wang. This page: Earring, Dhs118,000, 18K yellow gold, set with diamonds; Necklace, Dhs70,000, Rings (from left to right) Dhs74,500 and Dhs52,500, all Cactus de Cartier; Dress, Dhs8,270, Mary Katrantzou.
- 3. CREDITHERE CREDITHERE 104 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016 105 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016 The XXX Jewellery instinctively carries with it notions of hearts and flowers, of a romance often verging on the saccharine. But step back to analyse one of the most enduring jewellery marques of all time, Cartier, and its most iconic creations are mired in far stronger stuff. Currently circling my wrist is the ubiquitous Love bracelet, a blunt-edged gold bangle punctuated with industrial screws. Were that imagery not potent enough, true to legend, my husband literally locked it onto my wrist using the accompanying gold key. That’s a wealth of symbolism right there, enough to keep Freud occupied for days. Next to it lies the 2012 reissue of the ‘70s design Juste un Clou, literally ‘just a nail’, a precious reinterpretation of this most basic of building materials warped into a Dhs25,000-plus treasure. As a Valentine’s gift, it’s hardly the stuff of sonnets and sunsets, yet far more enduring than any other February 14 token. If Cartier’s classicism in part stems from its rejection of the obvious and the clichéd, then its newest opus, Cactus de Cartier, steps up this fine tradition. Launching this month, the 13-piece [ck with Ehab] collection takes its design cues from the spiky desert flower whose silhouette is worked into unexpected, yet wondrous pieces. Ranging from a convention- defying floating ring to a dramatic emerald and gold necklace whose asymmetric placing of 204 diamonds mirrors the reflection of the sun, the familiar structure of a golden barrel cactus – colloquially known as mother-in-law’s cushion – is topped with a succulent array of gemstone flowers cast in emerald, chrysoprase or carnelian. Like its botanical nickname it is spiky; a character trait also reserved by its wearer. This is jewellery that semaphores an instruction to look but don’t touch. “It is part of our culture to look for beauty in fields where most other people will not look,” Cartier’s director of image, style and heritage, Pierre Rainero, tells me. “The cactus flower is not an obvious flower. It’s very rare. The cactus flourishes in difficult circumstances and we liked the idea of contrast between this flower and the context in which it grows; the extreme conditions of heat, sand and dryness.” As Pierre adds, “Cartier is about being different.” Like the maison’s other creations before it, Cactus de Cartier is a far cry from the flowers, fairies and frivolities of fine jewellery’s more predictable inspirations. “It is true that we go our own way. It is part of our identity. We cultivate our own path,” he agrees. The design process is not calculated, the xx-year-old Frenchman explains, but merely an extension of “living in the contemporary world and having a feeling about the women of today”. It is instinctive. From which we can perhaps imply that Cartier’s customer does not want to be patronised with peonies but totally gets the brittle beauty of a plant cheekily known as matriarchal cushioning. She is a woman unafraid to harness her audacity, her strength of character and quite literally present herself as ‘prickling with diamonds’, to borrow from the collection’s publicity material. “ I T I S P A R T O F O U R C U L T U R E T O L O O K F O R B E A U T Y I N F I E L D S W H E R E M O S T O T H E R P E O P L E W I L L N O T L O O K ” P i e r r e R a i n e r o , d i r e c t o r o f i m a g e , s t y l e a n d h e r i t a g e , C a r t i e r “Our objective is to create really beautiful jewellery that attracts the eyes and that people want to touch, to wear and to play with,” Pierre explains. “We always think: how can a woman live with this object and wear it? Is the gesture right?” The beauty of Cartier’s creations isn’t always immediately apparent; it can take time for the eye to adjust. Not everyone falls in love with brutish nail-shaped jewellery in an instant, for example. But in contrast to fleeting puppy love, the romance proposed by Cartier matures over time into something more eternally enduring. When an informed understanding of the aesthetics at play is allowed to develop over time, the wearer develops a deep-seated appreciation of the design that grows, rather than diminishes, as the years march on. This sense of anticipating appreciation runs through Cartier’s design modus operandi. “Not only should you think it is beautiful, when we create something we want people one generation from now to still think it’s beautiful,” says Pierre of the house’s rejection of immediacy or current tastes. “We avoid everything that is too obvious,” he muses, admitting that, “I am not sure we have a recipe,” when it comes to formulating permanence in design. “We think of Cartier style over time and creating an object in the Cartier way. People can immediately recognise the eye of Cartier, which is a guarantee to clients of the future that the object will be seen in the very same way,” he explains. While the notion of women buying serious jewellery for themselves, rather than receiving it as a gift from a paramour or wealthy benefactor, has gathered steam only relatively recently, Cartier has a long tradition of independent female clients who absolutely do not need a man to furnish their diamond habit. “Even at the beginning of the 20th century women were buying Cartier on their own. It was the consequence of the way we were looking at the creation. We were quite daring, or at least a free spirit. Since the very beginning of the house we attracted women that were quite independent,” Pierre smiles. Key among its strong-minded female clientele are Middle Eastern women who pay homage to the brand not only in the region but also from homes in London, Paris, Geneva and the like. “There’s a sense of jewellery among people from the Middle East which is very important,” Pierre notes. “Because the way women dress in public and in private is different, jewellery has a different role. Also, because of the way they dress, jewellery makes even more of a difference than in any other culture. When it’s left visible in a very discreet way, just enough to be seen, that little detail changes the entire appearance.” The house’s relationship with the Middle East harks back over a century, to when Louis Cartier filled a library with books on Islamic culture and art – his notes still legible today – for his designers to be inspired by. “Islamic art is key in the conception of our style,” Pierre affirms, “very early in the 20th century, Cartier went into abstract shapes and it’s difficult to separate that work from Islamic art. Even in contemporary creations that apparently have no link with Islamic culture, you can still find those influences in some part of our vocabulary.” To wit: “Cartier was the first to associate blue and green and that came directly from Islamic tiles.” Now, Cartier’s celebration of a desert flower provides a fitting metaphor for its love affair with women descended from a long history of heat and sand; whose allure flourishes in the face of the harshness of her environment. Bold, striking and rare, Cartier’s ode to beauty without borders sings out across the Middle East. The JEWELS Bracelet, POA, 18K yellow gold, emeralds, set with diamonds, Cactus de Cartier; Dress, Dhs10,850, Gucci.
- 4. CREDITHERE 107 HarpersBazaarArabia.com September 2016 The XXXThe JEWELS “ T H E C A C T U S F L O W E R I S N O T O B V I O U S . I T ’ S V E R Y R A R E . T H E C A C T U S F L O U R I S H E S I N D I F F I C U L T C I R C U M S T A N C E S A N D W E L I K E D T H E I D E A O F C O N T R A S T B E T W E E N T H I S F L O W E R A N D T H E C O N T E X T I N W H I C H I T G R O W S ; T H E E X T R E M E C O N D I T I O N S O F H E A T , S A N D A N D D R Y N E S S ” P i e r r e R a i n e r o , d i r e c t o r o f i m a g e , s t y l e a n d h e r i t a g e , C a r t i e r Necklace, Dhs132,000, 18K yellow gold, lapis lazuli, set with diamonds; Ring, Dhs92,000, 18-carat yellow gold, lapis lazuli, set with 55 brilliant-cut diamonds; Bracelet, Dhs271,000, 18K yellow gold, lapis lazuli, set with diamonds, all Cactus de Cartier. Swimsuit, Dhs1,800, Lisa Marie Fernandez. Opposite: Necklace, POA, 18-carat yellow gold, emeralds, set with 204 brilliant-cut diamonds, Cactus de Catier. Top, Dhs3,780, Alexander Wang. Photo – Mazen Abusrour Styling – Katie Trotter Makeup – Toni Malt Hair – Angel Montague-Sayers Shot at 1M2 Studio Dubai Fashion Assistant - Omar Salama