There’s clever wordplay behind the name of Cartier’s latest high jewellery collection, Le Choeur des Pierres. Meaning “chorus”, choeur is pronounced exactly like coeur, the French word for “heart”. It’s a fitting double meaning for creations that not only bring together a chorus of exceptional gemstones, but also place each one at the heart of the design.
More than 125 pieces make up this first chapter, representing over 85,000 hours of work by Cartier’s expert artisans. Yet, this isn’t a collection held together by one motif repeated across necklaces, rings and earrings. Instead, colour, cut, proportion and character dictate the direction of each piece.
Alexa Abitbol, director of Cartier’s high jewellery workshops, explains, “This collection is an ode to gemstones, a dazzling symphony in which each gem sings its own melody.”
The Olorra necklace from Cartier’s Le Choeur des Pierres high jewellery collection brings together five Colombian emeralds totalling 40.67 carats with turquoise, lapis lazuli and diamonds in a striking geometric composition (Photo: Cartier)
Cartier signatures, reimagined
Nowhere is that more evident than in Olorra, a spectacular necklace centred around five Colombian emeralds totalling 40.67 carats. Their saturated green is set against turquoise and lapis lazuli, reviving Cartier’s century-old fascination with blue-green combinations.
Custom-cut stones and diamonds form a succession of geometric pendants that radiate around the neck, lending an architectural quality to the piece.
The Solenara and Tutti Kanya necklaces from Cartier’s Le Choeur des Pierres high jewellery collection offer contrasting interpretations of emeralds, from Solenara’s restrained asymmetry to Tutti Kanya’s exuberant mix of carved emeralds, rubies and sapphires (Photos: Cartier)
Emeralds take on a completely different personality for the Solenara necklace. Here, two rounded stones hang together at the end of an asymmetric necklace, their soft forms deliberately offset by crisp geometric diamonds. There’s a simplicity to the composition, with the understated setting allowing the distinctive shape and intensity of the emeralds to come to the fore.
By contrast, Tutti Kanya sees Cartier shift into maximalist mode. The necklace’s centrepiece is a 30.33-carat engraved Zambian emerald, surrounded by carved emeralds, rubies and sapphires representing flowers, leaves and berries.
The detachable ruby tassel can be repositioned to the back, the central motif worn as a brooch and there’s even a surprise on the reverse — a precious metal tree concealed within the necklace. With generous lashings of exuberance and drama, there’s no mistaking its Tutti Frutti heritage, which is a Cartier signature since the mid-1920s.
The Haryma and Panthere Kentia necklaces from Cartier’s Le Choeur des Pierres high jewellery collection bring the animal kingdom to life, pairing a tiger with imperial topazes and Cartier’s emblematic panther with a 50.13-carat Ceylon sapphire (Photos: Cartier)
The animal kingdom provides another route into Cartier history. The Haryma necklace swaps the familiar panther for a tiger stalking across five imperial topazes totalling 28.04 carats. Garnets and white, yellow and orange diamonds deepen the palette, while custom-cut onyx on the articulated chain echoes the tiger’s markings.
The clever bit is how closely jewellery and animal become intertwined: the stepped topazes are not just decoration, but the terrain across which the big cat appears to move.
Of course, Cartier’s emblematic feline makes an appearance. The Panthere Kentia necklace is built around an astounding 50.13-carat cabochon-cut Ceylon sapphire, its rounded form playing against the necklace’s graphic geometry. A sculpted panther – complete with emerald eyes and custom-cut onyx markings – emerges from the composition, while the articulated construction ensures that this substantial piece sits comfortably around the neck.
The Tellura necklace from Cartier’s Le Choeur des Pierres high jewellery collection uses 30 diamonds of distinctive shapes in a sculptural white gold composition inspired by the volcanic forces that preceded their formation (Photo: Cartier)
When the stones lead
For the Tellura necklace, Cartier looks to the origins of the stones themselves. The distinctive shapes of its 30 diamonds inspired a sculptural white gold necklace that evokes the volcanic eruption that preceded their formation. The remarkable gems appear scattered across the creation, suspended from a mix of pave scrolls and openwork. The interplay of volumes gives the piece an almost restless sense of movement.
The Specula ring from Cartier’s Le Choeur des Pierres high jewellery collection pairs two triangular diamonds totalling 6.44 carats in a modular toi et moi design that can be reconfigured to create different silhouettes (Photo: Cartier)
The collection’s stone-led approach is particularly evident in its rings. A reworking of the classic toi et moi design, Specula pairs two triangular diamonds totalling 6.44 carats in an ingenious modular construction comprising two smaller rings. With the diamonds turned inwards, the design forms a succession of stepped chevrons; reverse them and the structure opens out around the stones, creating an entirely different silhouette.
Meanwhile, the Tetraya ring boasts a voluptuous 20.24-carat sugarloaf-cut Colombian emerald flanked by modified shield-cut diamonds and framed by 18 calibre-cut rubies. The striking red and green pairing revisits a colour combination that has been part of Cartier’s repertoire for more than a century.
The Tetraya and Stratelia rings from Cartier’s Le Choeur des Pierres high jewellery collection put exceptional coloured gemstones centre stage, with a 20.24-carat Colombian emerald and a 23.35-carat Madagascan sapphire respectively (Photos: Cartier)
Colour drives the Stratelia ring too, albeit in a cooler palette. Its 23.35-carat Madagascar cushion-cut sapphire sits within a multi-level architecture of emerald-cut diamonds, with its pavilion deliberately exposed to allow light to enter from beneath. Tesselia turns up the heat with a 5.24-carat Mozambique ruby, its deep, orange-tinged red intensified by eight cushion-cut diamonds, interspersed with openwork mirroring their shape.
The Kinko and Auralis rings from Cartier’s Le Choeur des Pierres high jewellery collection explore rare coloured diamonds, from Kinko’s green-blue and green stones to Auralis’s six pink diamonds from Australia’s Argyle mine (Photos: Cartier)
Some of the collection’s most intriguing stones come in smaller packages. The Auralis ring brings together six ultra-rare pink pear-shaped diamonds from Australia’s now-closed Argyle mine. Totalling 1.42 carats, their delicate hue is heightened by three larger white diamonds.
Kinko, in turn, draws on Louis Cartier’s celebrated peacock motif by pairing a 1.11-carat green-blue diamond with a 0.42-carat green diamond in a contemporary toi et moi ring.