Sunlight Escape, Piaget’s new high-jewellery and watch collection, captures the sensation of being beneath a star-studded sky lit up by surreal colours that blur one’s sense of reality. Moments are made radiant, and one revels in simply contemplating the magical passage of time. Jewels sparkle with a thousand fires, complementing the celestial sphere and illuminating the night.
The Sunlight Escape collection by Piaget is comprised of three themes and features the exceptional savoir-faire of the maison as well as that of renowned Maître d’Art Nelly Saunier and Rose Saneuil.
Warming Lights, the first theme within the collection, is composed of creations at once powerful and delicate. They express radiance in their form, and flamboyance in the audacity of their materials. In pink gold, yellow, and white diamonds, they catch the light and transform it through a multitude of reflections and refractions.
A necklace brilliantly displays dozens of pink-gold engraved batons decorated with marquise-cut diamonds. As a solar centre stone, an emerald-cut emerald of 6.02 carats gleams a deep green (G37N7000). A signature of the Maison Piaget, a cuff-bracelet in pink gold is set with a marquetry motif of feathers and gold leaves, like scintillating light reflecting off a crystalline frozen sea (G36M7800). A ring sparkles with brilliant-cut diamonds and a large cushion-cut diamond of 2.3 carats (G34HY200). A watch set with diamonds and white gold is completed by a bracelet of rose-cut and brilliant-cut diamonds, like little droplets of freshly melted snow (G0A43270).
Exalting Sights, the second theme, celebrates nature in transformation. A necklace with a playful graphical design is set with shades of blue: lapis lazuli, Paraiba tourmalines and aquamarines collide with waves of brilliant-cut diamonds (G37N6100). Like a winter dream, a watch of diamonds and white gold is coloured by a cushion-cut emerald of 1.8 carats and marquise-shaped emeralds (G0A43262). Two waves of diamonds close around a night-blue sea created of lapis lazuli forming the dial of the watch (G0A43264).
Like the glistening plateau of a freshly formed iceberg, a fancy-cut cabochon tourmaline of 24.73 carats is the centre stone of a ring set with multiple brilliant-cut diamonds in white gold (G34HY400). Forming the heart of a necklace, an emerald-cut emerald of 18.88 carats is set off by a surround of fine goldwork and diamonds of varied size (G37N5600). A cascading necklace of drops and frosted points sparkles with green. The necklace is crowned by a pear-cut emerald of 7.50 carats (G37N5700). Another necklace paved with brilliant and fancy-cut diamonds hugs the throat to display a sapphire of deepest blue (G37N5400).
As evening turns to night; the sky becomes a dazzling new theatre of colours. Driven by solar winds, the aurora borealis sweeps silently through the atmosphere, flaring, fading and flaring once more. It is this unique heavenly spectacle that has inspired Dancing Nights, the third theme in the collection.
With an explosion of colour, a pendant necklace shows a generous heart. An oval-cut red spinel radiates outwards in red and pink spinels, Paraiba tourmalines, spessartites and white opals (G37N6800). The starry sky of the Great North is charged with elation and joy. Turning slowly without shadows, it lights up the night.
The collection features some remarkable savoir-faire such as the ‘Palace decoration;’ an engraving process inspired by Haute Couture. It involves hand-guilloching gold with irregular streaks to give the effect of raw silk. The result is a supple, fabric-like appearance, and an inimitable glow that accentuates the sparkle of precious stones. This engraving process is a true Piaget signature for which the Maison has long been renowned. Combined with gold polishing and diamond setting, such High Jewellery creations push the limits of expertise and creativity. The Midnight Sun necklace displays the Palace decoration with particular brilliance. In this instance, the marquise-cut diamonds lead naturally to the profoundly intense green of a large emerald (G37N7000).
Nelly Saunier, a winner of the Prix Liliane Bettencourt pour l’Intelligence de la Main, was once more “a natural choice” for Piaget to collaborate with on Sunlight Escape. For this collection, she has crafted a series of four exceptional creations in the form of earrings and manchettes that evoke a snowy landscape illuminated by the piercing rays of the sun. Nelly Saunier brings together the art of feathers and the art of gold. A composition of pure-white feathers is brilliantly contrasted with leaves of rose gold, creating the scintillating effect of frosty snow glistening in the sun’s warm rays (G36M7800).
For the first time ever, Maître d’Art Rose Saneuil has worked on three High Jewellery creations. Pushing the limits of creativity, Saneuil has developed a surprising association between straw and wood. More precisely, it is by using fine straw from ryegrass and wood from European hornbeam and sycamore that she has crafted these exquisite marquetry creations. Element by element, each minuscule piece of veneer is carefully cut to exact size before being meticulously positioned to create the whole (G38N9100).
